


Barton Watson: Healing

by cantorahagedoorn



Series: Barton-Watson [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF John Watson, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Reichenbach, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2019-07-20 05:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16130147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantorahagedoorn/pseuds/cantorahagedoorn
Summary: “That bloody impossible git.”After a little while longer, John sat back up, “That bloody idiot.”Now that some things (read: Reichenbach debacle) have been somewhat cleared up, John is finally starting to interact a little bit more with the rest of the Avengers.





	1. John, Bruce and Sherlock's letter

Bruce patiently waited for the elevator the bring him to his desired floor. Clint and Natasha had returned from their mission a couple of days ago and when asked what had caused their delay the archer had responded that they had made a detour to get something for John.

Tony had needeld a bit to find out what kind of souvenir Clint thought was appropriate for his cousin, but both spies had been very unforthcoming with information. Bruce normally wouldn’t really care what the secrecy was about wasn’t it for the fact that he hadn’t seen John since the assassins returned home.

So now the physicist was riding the elevator up to Clint’s floor with a box of tea. The tea in question was a new flavour he had found in the shop he and John frequented to get tea and mostly served as an excuse to visit.

After knocking on the door and receiving a distracted sounding “Come in”, Bruce found John seated on the floor surrounded by paper.

“I don’t know what I was expecting,” Bruce started, “But apparently not this.”

The blond doctor turned around to look at the newcomer and smiled when he saw the other doctor standing in the doorway, “Hey Bruce.”

“What have you been doing?” the part-time goliath asked, before adding, “I brought a new flavour tea.”

“I could probably use a cup,” the blond replied, “Do you remember what I told you about Sherlock.”

Bruce knew Sherlock whit a bit of a sore point for John, “I know what you told me about him,” the physicist responded while making his way to the kitchen around the collection of paper, “He was a genius who solved mysteries and you met him when you became flatmates. Then he died.”

“I always appreciated that you didn’t bother to dig more, not even by yourself,” the blond commented while carefully making his way over between the pages spread on the floor, “Anyway, this is what Clint brought me.”

Bruce took the piece of paper the other doctor handed him, they had to wait for the water anyway. While reading the letter his eyebrows gradually rose higher and higher.

“I honestly don’t know what to say about it,” the physicist confessed as the other doctor started to pour the water in two cups, “But how are you feeling about it?”

“On one hand I really want to punch the git in the face,” John replied while handing his friend a cup, “On the other hand I’m really relieved.”

Bruce took the cup of tea and patiently waited for the blond to continue talking.

“The events leading up to his ‘death’ were always complicated,” John started, “But it ended whit Sherlock jumping off a roof in front of my eyes while I was practically on the phone with him.”

The physicist's eyes widened in shock, meanwhile, the blond continued.

“One of the things I just couldn’t get out of my head was that I failed to save him. And the ‘what ifs’ were driving me crazy.” John paused for a moment, “So it is a relief to know the daft bustard was always going to jump.”

“You know,” Bruce started, carefully, “I kind of want to hit him too now.”

The blond barked out a laugh and then grinned at the other doctor, “I won’t stop you.”

After another moment of peace in which the two men enjoyed their tea, John spoke up again. “Do you know who I _really_ want to punch though? Mycroft.”

“Mycroft?” the other doctor asked.

“Yes Mycroft,” the blond elaborated, “Mycroft is Sherlock’s older brother. And he helped set the entire thing up, no doubt about it. There is a multiple of reasons why I would like to punch him in the face one day but the most recent one is that he _knew._ ”

“While Sherlock hasn’t been in Londen, and thus didn’t really know what was happening until Clint spotted him, Mycroft knew exactly what was happening,” The former soldier explained, “He saw me multiple times after ‘the fall’ and still decided not to tell me.”

John visibly took a deep breath, before letting it go again, “But that is something for another time. Meanwhile, I’m trying to find a chronological order in this mess,” the blond commented while indicating the papers spread all over the living room.

“What is it exactly,” Bruce asked, interested.

“It is the present Nat brought me,” the blond doctor replied with a delighted grin, “Three hours’ worth of Sherlock trying to write an apology.”

Curious the part-time goliath picked up one of the nearby pages.

* * *

_Sincerely Sherlock_

_Your friend,  
Sherlock_

_Kind regards,  
Sherlock Holmes_

_Love,  
Sherlock_

_SH_

_Sherlock_

* * *

John looked over his shoulder to see which page he found.

“There is another one just like it,” the blond doctor commented, “Only it is used to try out salutations.”

“It is a lot of paper,” Bruce said.

“Yes, it is,” John replied, “I appreciate it almost more than the actual letter.”

The physicist looked at his friend, silently asking him to elaborate.

“All this paper proves that he _really_ put time and effort in writing the apology,” the blond explained, “And that means something.”

Then after a beat, the Brit asked, “Do you want to help me try and order it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading.  
> As always, I'm not actually a native English speaker and don't have a beta reader.  
> So if you see any mistakes, please let me know. Then I can correct them and sometimes I learn something new in the process.
> 
> Furthermore, there might be some hiatuses in the updates (not sure yet).  
> Because, in contrast to the previous instalments, I don't have everything written just yet.


	2. John, Steve and the farmers market

Steve made his way through the lobby of the tower. It was still so early that there wasn’t anyone present and the super soldier had accepted that most people didn’t like getting up early, Tony had shown downright disgust for the blonds morning run. But then again, the engineers sleeping schedule was non-existent to begin with.

When Steve was about halfway to the doors JARVIS suddenly spoke up.

“Captain Rogers, if you would wait for a moment. I believe doctor Watson might want to join you.”

“Oh, that is quite alright.” The super soldier replied, slightly surprised.

Clint’s cousin had been in the tower for a while now but Steve hadn’t really had the chance to talk to the man. The British doctor was polite when they crossed paths but he mostly kept to himself. That he was now reaching out to other residents of the tower was probably a good sign.

The elevator gave a cheerful _ding_ and the other blond came jogging out.

“Thank you for waiting,” John started, “I hope I’m not intruding or anything.”

“Oh no, not at all,” Steve replied with a smile, “It will be nice to have some company. I still haven’t convinced any of the others of the merits of a morning run.”

“Well, I’m doing it to get in shape again,” John acknowledged, “But I can’t imagine Thor needing the exercise and I know Clint wouldn’t go voluntarily.”

“I did ask Clint once,” the super soldier supplied, “He replied by quoting some television serie at me.”

The blond doctor huffed out a laugh, then he picked up the conversation again, “Bruce might like it, if he had a little more consisted sleeping seclude. Speaking of Bruce, he mentioned that there is a farmers market you visit.”

“Ah, yes,” Steve replied with a smile, “It is there once a week. I always visit if I have the chance. Would you like me to show you?”

“Yes, please,” the Brit replied, “After the run. Just show me your usual route.”

* * *

 

John was bent over forward, hands resting on his knees and taking large gulps of air trying to get his heartbeat back under control. Meanwhile, Captain America was hovering next to his shoulder looking like he had been enjoying a stroll instead of jogging.

“You alright?” The super soldier asked uncertain.

“Yeah, yeah,” the doctor managed to reply, “Just out of shape.” Then after a beat, he continued, “You haven’t even gotten started, have you?”

How someone that large was able to look like a guilty puppy John would never figure out.

“It is no problem, really,” the blond avenger assured him.

The Brit shook his head, “You go and run your usual rounds. By the time you're finished, I will have enough breath back to jog with you to the farmers market.”

Rogers looked hesitant for a bit longer but the doctor made some shooing motions and the blond avenger complied.

* * *

 

After a short jog, for which John had enough air again, the two blonds arrived at the farmers market. There was already a fair crowd gathered between the different stalls, despite the early hour.

“Did you have anything specific in mind?” The blond avenger asked his companion, “I’m pretty familiar with the layout by now.”

“Honestly,” John replied, “I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I want to try some recipes I learned at Uni, but my plan was mostly to see what I could get.”

“We could use more people who know how to cook,” Steve mentioned, “I know a bit and Bruce is an absolute godsend but none of the others really seem to care for it. So we eat a lot of takeout.”

“Bruce invited me to help him cook team dinner the day after tomorrow,” the blond doctor replied, “I mentioned that I wanted to talk to some more of the people in the tower and apparently everyone shows up consistently when he cooks.”

“That is because he is the best cook out of the Avengers,” the super soldier answered, “The only ones who sometimes miss it are Thor, because he is off-world, and Pepper because of her work. It is even one of the most reliable ways to get Tony out of his workshop, although it is often only temporary.”

“What does Clint normally do?” John asked, moving the conversation along.

“Clint provides take-out,” the taller of the two responded, “It is always good, never from the same place and often pizza.”

“Mmh,” the doctor made an interested noise, “I might be able to convince Clint to actually cook something.”

“Clint cooks?” Steve asked slightly surprised.

“Yup,” the Brit replied, “And not bad either. He normally doesn’t have the time or he doesn’t feel like it. It is a bit all or nothing with Clint’s cooking. So you get either takeout pizza or a three-course meal, there is no in-between.”

“It sounds mean,” the super soldier started, “But I would never have guessed that about Clint. I would have sooner guessed Natasha, until the first time we left her unsupervised with a frying pan.”

“Clint has cooked a couple of times since I arrived,” John acknowledged with a smile, “And each time he roped Natasha and me into helping with the preparations. Although he did keep Nat away from his frying pans.”

“I would love to try some of Clint’s cooking,” Steve said excited, then he pointed to one of the stalls, “Oh, this is a good one for vegetables.”

“Ah, well let’s take a look,” the doctor replied, “And I’ll let you know when I make some progress with Clint.”


	3. Doctor orders

Steve was a mother hen. This was absolutely no new information for Tony, not at all. The number of times the blond super soldier had all but forcefully dragged the engineer to medical should be a good indicator. However, all those previous times did not mean that Tony was any happier about it happening this time.

The Avengers had just finished a moderately difficult battle. Practically everyone had gotten thrown at some point and all of them where slightly banged up, but nothing serious. Which made it all the more annoying that Steve had found out about Tony’s knee. It didn’t _need_ medical attention. Just an ice pack and there were plenty of those in his workshop, there was absolutely no reason for the brunet to be dragged to medical. Not that the big blond American icon would listen to him.

As they approached medical they could hear a tirade going on, Tony was apparently not the only unwilling patient.

“…erstand. I don’t _need_ stitches. I have gotten pretty good at knowing when I need and don’t need stitches. I have been doing this spy-thing for a while now, this is not the first fight I have been in. It are just scratches, they need a band-aid at most. And I can slap those on myself, in my cosy apartment. You would never do this to Nat. So why me?”

Clint’s protest grew louder and louder while they got closer to the door of medical. Just as Steve opened the door John replied to his cousin in a steady voice.

“I don’t need to do this with Nat because she would remember to apply disinfectant to the cuts and even if you needed stitches you wouldn’t go to medical, so I’m checking you over.”

“I’m still not over the fact that no one bothered to tell me you’re a medical doctor,” Tony proclaimed loudly, effectively getting the attention of the two cousins.

“Well excuse me for not giving you a complete rundown of John’s life,” Clint huffed back, “If I remember correctly you told me to take my boring details to Pepper.”

The blond doctor used his cousin shift of focus to tend to a long scratch his cousin's side. Then, without looking up, he interrupted the two bickering men before Tony could reply.

“Are you here about that knee, Tony?”

“How the fuck did you know that without even looking at me?” The engineer asked surprised.

“Because I _did_ watch the fight and would be surprised if nothing was wrong,” John replied, shooting the brunet an utterly unimpressed look, “Besides, I could hear you limping. Now up the table.”

Tony grumbled while a widely grinning Steve helped him take a seat on the table. Meanwhile, the blond doctor passed a box of Disney band-aids to his cousin before moving over to the engineer and inspecting the brunets knee with careful fingers.

“I just need an ice-pack” Tony grumbled, just to be contrary.

“While an ice-pack will indeed help with the swelling. I would also like to wrap it,” John commented, “Both should be next door if I’m not mistaken.”

“I’ll go and get them,” the super soldier said while doing his best impression of an excited puppy.

“You’re not going anywhere until I have had a look at your ribs,” the blond doctor replied forcefully, “Clint can get them instead.”

Steve looked utterly and completely confused, “Why do you want to look at my ribs?”

“Because you flew through a wall and then smacked into another,” the good doctor replied.

“But there is nothing wrong with my ribs,” the larger blond argued.

“Then you won’t mind me looking, now would you?” John argued back without missing a beat.

Steve started to look more and more like an inconvenient toddler, “The serum takes care of my injuries.”

“The serum makes you heal faster, yes,” the brit allowed, “But you're still healing and I would like to make that as painless as possible. Now if you please?”

The large blond hesitated a bit longer, clearly not really wanting to comply with the request. Then the doctor narrowed his eyes. Then Steve seemed to deflate a bit and got into position. John carefully checked the blond his ribs.

“Well,” the blond doctor started, “They are not broken, but based on how your berating changes they _do_ still hurt.”

The brit straightens up again and continued, “Normally I would prescribe some painkillers but I understand they don’t work as well for you due to your metabolism. Alternatively, I could wrap them for you. That will limit your breathing but you will hurt less because your ribs aren’t moving.”

“Uhhh?” Steve responded, slightly confused.

John blew out a breath, “Do you prefer to breathe normally and have a bit of pain or would you rather have less pain and a slightly limited breathing capacity. You will heal fine regardless.”

“Why don’t I get options?” Tony piped up, “I would like options too.”

“Because you are going to make that knee worse by walking on it if I don’t wrap it,” John explained calmly, “While Steve is not going make his ribs worse unless he suddenly decides to do some intensive training.”

“By the way,” the doctor continued while turning back to the super soldier, “regardless of if I wrap your ribs, you shouldn’t stress them till they’re completely healed.”

“Don’t stress it, Steve,” Clint piped up while holding out the ice-pack and bandage for his cousin to take, “The point is that you decide what is most comfortable for you.”

“Just think about it while I bandage Stark,” John encouraged while making his way over to the engineer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops ... A little later than normal...
> 
> Anyway, I really like this particular chapter. It was originally for the previous instalment but it fits better with a little more confident John.  
> I also considered going in some deeper on Steve and his possibilities whit choices regarding medical actions.


	4. John, Bruce, Thor and stereotypes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not completely sure about this chapter...  
> The idea started as John and Thor talking about strange things Americans do, but instead in descended into a talk over stereotypes.  
> It was also hard to find an ending, but I hope you'll like it anyway

Thor patiently waited for the elevator to take him to the common floor of the tower. Today was Bruce’s turn to provide dinner and the man always made quite excellent meals. The Asgardian was very glad that he wasn’t needed on Asgard for another couple of days, team meals were always really enjoyable and if Bruce was providing food both the presence of the other Avengers as the presence of good food was guaranteed.

Thor himself knew little of the noble art of cooking, unless you counted roasting game over a fire, but did know that the part-time goliath preferred both company and assistance while preparing a meal. So, even if the tall blond couldn’t perform any of the tasks required for the preparation of the meal, he would still be more than welcome.

The elevator gave a cheerful _*ding*_ indicating their arrival and the sound pulled the god from his musing.

“Friend Bruce,” Thor bellowed,  not bothering to wait until the doors were completely open, “Is there any way I can be of assistance in preparing our glorious dinner?”

Thor was surprised, but not deterred, when instead of one, two pairs of eyes looked his way.

Bruce was the first of the three to speak, “Hi Thor, I think there are some vegetables you can chop,”

“It would be my honour, friend Bruce,” The Norse god replied.

When the tall blond had gathered all the necessary ingredients he turned to John.

“Will you be joining us for dinner today or are you merely lending a hand?”

“No, I will be there for dinner,” The doctor replied, “I have been reliably informed that it is quite the occasion.”

“Team dinner is always a very joyful occasion.” Thor agreed, “I greatly enjoy the many stories told. I hope Tony might entertain us with one of his tales, especially since he is most commonly absent.”

“I thought everyone always showed up for team dinner?” John asked, slightly confused.

“Technically every time any of us cooks it is a team dinner,” Bruce explained, “But it’s absolutely impossible to enforce attendance. Still, for some reason, everyone shows up when I’m cooking. Or they at least try.”

“That is because you are such a good cook,” Thor replied, “It is even good enough to lure Tony out when he is in his ‘engineering flow’.”

“That git is indeed the type that forgets to eat.” John lamented.

“Git?” The Asgardian asked confused, “I don’t think I heard that term before.”

“That is because you spend all your time around Americans,” the blond doctor replied, “It’s another word for idiot.”

“It’s an example of the difference between British English and American English,” Bruce explained to the confused god, “There are some small differences, such as the spelling of words like colour or the use of different words, like sweater versus jumper.”

“And then there are of course things like accents and stereotypes,” John added.

“I am familiar with accents, lady Natasha is very good at switching between them,” Thor commented, “But I can’t think of any of these ‘stereotypes’.

“An example would be that all Brits drink tea,” the former soldier explained, “Or, and you might have someone mention something related to this, that all Russians drink vodka.”

“Stereotypes are very broad generalisations,” Bruce adds, “And mostly result in inaccurate or shallow preconceptions.”

“But Natasha does like vodka,” the god argued.

“And John does like tea,” the part-time goliath allowed, “But I also like tea and that doesn’t mean that I’m British.”

“This might not be the best examples,” John added, “Since we Brits do love our cup of tea. But there are also a lot of wrong and even harmful stereotypes, and they're not necessarily bound to a nationality.”

“Ah,” Thor exclaimed in sudden understanding, “Is this similar to the weird notion of Midgardians to separate based on gender, sexuality or ‘race’ while none of these have any bearings on a person’s ability or worth?”

“Well, yes,” Bruce replied, looking up from his stirring, “These things are generally all connected to one another.”

“Friend Stark brought up the matter in regards to some ‘tweeting’ accounts. He needed to explain the perceived problem since I’m not familiar with at home on Asgard,” Thor then turned to John, “It was your cousin, I believe, who told me to keep that mindset because we are apparently ‘light years ahead’ regarding these social norms.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with Clint here,” Bruce replied, “Also, Thor, could you pass me the first batch of vegetables?”

“Of course,” The god answered, while he passed the bowl, “Let’s now talk about less serious things. How about I tell one of my tales of adventure?”

John smiled at the big blond, “I would be most delighted,”


	5. John and Tony vs Fury

Tony grumbled to himself as he disembarked the elevator on the common floor. He was going to need coffee for the upcoming conversation. The team had split up again after dinner and the engineer had actually been planning on going to bed. And that was, of course, the moment for this unfortunate call.

The brunet didn’t bother to turn on the lights in the kitchen as he grabbed the coffee pot, that JARVIS had already brewed, and a mug. The first mug he downed was actually too hot. He drank the second mug a bit slower as he turned on the lights in the living area and prepared the holographic interface.

Tony needed to squint against the sudden onslaught of light but didn’t let it bother him for too long. Instead, he finished his second cup of caffeinated goodness and poured himself a third cup. Then carefully relaxed his body to project an indifference calm and put on his game face just as the SHIELD logo blinked away to reveal the always pleasant face of Nick Fury.

“You,” Tony started, completely foregoing any kind of pleasantries, “Have atrocious timing. Just so you know. So, what kind of boring thing are you bothering me with today?”

“Cut the attitude, Stark.” Fury barked back, “Like I would be calling if it wasn’t important.”

Tony took another gulp of coffee and made a ‘go on’ gesture at the other man.

“One of our team has encountered an unknown chemical. Initial information indicates that it is highly explosive.”

“Can’t be worse than Azidoazide Azide,” Tony muttered to himself before addressing the one-eyed man again, “And why are you bothering me then? I assume you have some chemists on the payroll. And this is more Bruce’s field than mine.”

“I’m not about to put Dr Banner in a high-pressure situation…”

“Oh fuck you,” The engineer cut in, “You know Bruce’s control is excellent. And he most certainly doesn’t need your forced doubt to make him more insecure.”

“I did not call to discuss Banner's mental state.” Fury argues back, “I called because I need you to get your ass in gear.”

“ _Bullshit_ ”

Both men froze at the unexpected outburst.

“ _What?”_ Fury snapped as Tony looked over to the kitchen where the voice had sounded from.

“I said bullshit,” John replied, shuffling from the kitchen cradling a cup of tea. Tony guessed the man had woken up from a nightmare, judging on his pyjamas, general bedhead and the fact that he looked only 47% awake.

Fury took a moment to take the newcomers ruffled appearance in, “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”

“Yup,” John replied with a fake cheerful voice, “But I also know something else.”

“And what would that be?”

“That you sound like a fat official that is too lazy to do his own legwork.” The doctor deadpanned, letting the false cheer fall of his face.

“Excuse me?!” Fury replied, offended.

“Tony had a point when he said you have your own chemists to look at this.” John continued, “And based on the information you gave they haven’t been anywhere near the chemical. Which makes your call more seem like a try to get out under your own responsibilities by dumping them on Stark.”

“You might want to treat careful,” the director responded in a threatening voice, “you don’t want to make too powerful enemies.”

The blond doctor snorted in disbelief, “You, director, don’t even make the top five of the most dangerous people I ever met. So kindly piss off.”

Then the good doctor turned to the engineer, “If you keep inhaling coffee like that you will never sleep tonight. Good night.”

Tony turned to wave at the screen while John made his way back to the elevator. “You heard the man. If your scientists can’t figure it out Bruce and I might take a look. But till then, tootels.”

Without waiting for a response the engineer cut the connection and hurried after the doctor. He caught up with the man in the elevator.

“Who are they?” The engineer asked.

“Wha?”

Geez, the man really was still mostly asleep.

“Your top five of most dangerous people you ever met?” Tony clarified, “Who are they?”

“Oh.” John replied, “The list is not completely up to date anymore thou. And I never really ordered them all that much.”

“Just name a couple,” Tony urged, “I’m curious.”

“Your always curious,” The blond replied, “But in no particular order: consulting criminal, consulting detective, the British government, The Woman”

“What the hell is a consulting criminal?” Tony asked as the elevator dinged.

“Dead,” John deadpanned, then he looked over his shoulder while he stepped out of the elevator on to Clint’s floor, “Sleep well, Tony.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I quite liked it.


	6. Caw, Caw Motherfucker (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since John arrived it has been quite peaceful for the Avengers.  
> Too bad it didn't last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today we're doing something a little bit different!

John was looking at the groceries laid out on the kitchen counter off Clint’s apartment. He had just returned to the tower and now contemplating what he would try to cook tonight. One of the vital pieces of information he needed was the number of people he was going to be feeding. Luckily for him, at least part of this information was easy enough to get. So he looked over towards his cousin.

“Clint,” the blond doctor asked, “Do you have any idea when Nat is getting back?”

“Not anytime soon,” the archer replied, perched as he was on one of the bar stools, “She is on an intel mission in Asia and there is apparently some chatter that AIM might be involved.”

“AIM,” John asked, trying to remember where he had heard the name before, “That is the group with, how did you call it? Questionable science and more questionable morals?”

“Yeah, that group,” the archer scrunched his nose in annoyance, “Which means that Nat is doing a long-term infiltration. And on top of that Tony is up in arms, but that doesn’t really influence Nat. We are the unlucky souls within hearing distance.”

John thought he remembered hearing parts of this story. Some way or another Pepper had gotten involved and it had apparently ended in a lot of fire and explosives.

“Tony has seemed a bit stressed lately,” the doctor commented, while he started to put the groceries away, “I thought it was because his experiment wasn’t cooperating. Talking about the scientist, do you think Bruce might want to join us for dinner?”

“Yes, probably. Bruce is the one that can normally be lured out of the lab with the promise of food and company,” Clint allowed, now balancing his barstool on only two legs, “But we still need to get him away from his science and from Tony.”

“No harm in asking.”

* * *

After a short conversation with JARVIS and a slightly longer elevator ride, John made his way over to the labs. There he found the two geniuses at hard at work. Tony was hunched over and folded in on himself sitting in a chair, staring intensely at a screen and occasionally muttering to himself. Meanwhile, Bruce was working on transferring some cell culture from one culture dish to another. The British doctor briefly wondered whether the man was starting a new research or was merely expanding an old one while he waited for his friend to finish the delicate work.

When Bruce had put the last of his culture dishes away he turned to the blond, “Hi, John. What can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to ask you if you might want to join Clint and me for dinner tonight,” John started, “I’m going to try and cook something simple from my uni days and could use some input on possible improvements.”

“I don’t have any plans yet,” the other doctor replied, “Any particular reason you need my input?”

“Not really,” John shrugged, “Apart from that Nat is out of the country and I would like some actual useful feedback on my cooking and Clint is absolutely terrible at it.”

Bruce smiled indulgently before replying, “I’ll be there, which time were you thinking?”

“Oh, somewhere around…” the blond started before he got interrupted by loud cheering from the other side of the room.

Tony had apparently cracked whatever he was working on and was very loud and very cheerful hitting the last necessary keys with abandon.

“Take that!” The grease smeared genius called delighted, before getting out of his seat and stretching.

“Did that have anything to do with the AIM business in Asia?” John asked the man, interested in what had him so delighted.

“What?” Tony asked confused, he had apparently not really noticed he wasn’t quite alone, “No, not AIM. Those fucktards haven’t really been my problem since Killian went up in flames.”

“I’ll just pretend I know what that means,” the blond replied, before continuing, “If not AIM, then what were you working on?”

“Hackers,” the engineer grumbled, before carding his hands through his hair leaving a bigger mess than it had been before, “Someone, or someones, tried to hack SI on the west coast. They didn’t get in, of course, but they did get close enough to make people unconvertable. So now I have to fly there, mostly for morale, and because Pepper is either efficient or evil she combined the trip with some meetings.”

“Oh,” Bruce injected, “When will you be leaving?”

“Don’t know. JARVIS?”

“There are still approximately three and a half hours before you’ll need to leave, sir.” JARVIS crisps voice answered, “May I suggest you retire to your room and start making some process in the document miss Potts left you.”

Tony did no such thing. Instead, he draped himself over Bruce, or at least tried to, they were too similar in height for it to really work.

“Brucie,” the engineer whined, in a tone John immediately recognised from many nights carolling Sherlock, “I don’t wanne gooooooooooooo”

The other genius chuckled good-natured, “But you also don’t want to piss off Pepper,”

“Ugh, don’t remind me”

“Besides,” Bruce continued, still sounding very indulgent, “By the time you get back I might have done some actual reading for the shielding idea I had.”

“The force field project,” Tony exclaimed excited while veering up like a demented jack-in-a-box, “You said you weren't going to make them”

“No,” the part-time goliath corrected, “I said that I had no indication that it was at all possible and that I didn’t have the time to figure it out. But since my current project is slowing down I now do have time to look into it.”

The engineer was still doing his very best hyper puppy impersonation and Bruce sighed, before continuing, “That is not at all a promise that it will go anywhere, but I’ll look into it and sent you anything interesting I find. You could read it on your way back.”

“Are you trying to bribe me?”

“No, I’m just reminding you that it is not all bad.” The physicist intoned, “Go on your trip, make Pepper happy and we’ll do something fun when you get back alright.”

“I hate the fact that your so sensible, sometimes,” Tony, replied stretching a last time, “Alright, I’m going to prepare for boring meetings. And I’m keeping you to that Bruce.”

With that the genius left for the elevator, leaving the two doctors to hash out the details in regards to dinner.

* * *

Clint was again balancing on one of the barstools in the kitchen while John was cooking. The archer was currently balancing on two legs and the goal was apparently to balance on only one.

John had asked why his cousin was trying this in the first place. That prompted an explanation that someone had done it in a movie and Nat had proceeded to show that she could do it too. Which had Clint convinced he should also be able to do it, especially, or so the archer argued, because Clint had once been in the circus where they did this kind of things for a living.

Any and all pointing out that that never had been Clint’s gig did absolutely nothing to stop the man.

Clint, meanwhile, had mastered the balancing on two legs and had moved on to trying to balance on one leg. John could tell due to the irregular repeated sound of one of the legs hitting the ground again or, if it was a particularly bad try, there were even three taps in fast succession as all the legs reconnected with the floor. At least Clint hadn’t toppled over (yet).

“Bruce will be coming soon,” John told his cousin without looking up from his work, “Are you going to keep doing that or will you actually help?”

“You’re the one that didn’t want my input,” the archer replied, sounding a bit distracted.

“That is because I want to make a simple meal,” the doctor shot back, “and not an entire three-course monstrosity.”

Clint huffed, pretending to be offended and John smiled as he heard a fast succession of _tap tap tap_ as all the legs of the stool reconnected to the ground again.

It wasn’t much later when Bruce arrived, he did give balancing archer a curious look but didn’t comment. Instead, he joined the other cousin at the counter and threw a curious look into one of the pots.

“How is it going?” the physicist asked while replacing the lid.

“Quite well actually,” the blond doctor replied, “Although I’m a bit worried about the seasoning.”

“I told you…” Clint started, but John cut him off, pointing a spoon at his general direction without actually looking.

“You lost your right to give input when you criticised the way I was holding a kitchen knife.”

John couldn’t see what happened next, he still had his back turned, but Bruce was looking in the right direction. The archer made the mistake of lifting his hand in order to gesture and punctuate his next words. But since the blond was still balancing on his barstool, he hadn’t needed to fall back to all four legs in a while now, he spectacularly lost his balance and toppled completely over.

Both other men responded almost on instinct on the loud resulting noise, so when Clint opened his eyes he was met with the concerned faces of not one, but two doctors.

“Are you alright?” Bruce was the first to ask.

“Aww, man,” the archer complained, “Now there is two of you.”

John huffed out a laugh, “He sounds fine to me.”

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked still a bit concerned as Clint picked himself up from the floor.

“Yes, doc,” the blond reassured the other, “Nothing but a bruised pride.”

“Does that mean that you’re finally done with those annoying tapping sounds?” John asked good-natured as he returned to his cooking.

“You don’t have any appreciation for art,” Clint huffed, “I know I can do it, just not yet.”

Neither doctor took the trouble to look at the archer, “Yes, Clint. If you say so.”

The Archer puffed out his chest some more, “I hear how it is,” and then disappeared into the vents to sulk.

“You think he’s really fine?” Bruce asked the other doctor.

“Yes,” John simply replied, “He’ll sulk for a bit in the vents, but he will be at it again before we finished our dessert.”

The brunet made a soft noise in understanding and the two then continued to work together in a comfortable silence. It wasn’t long before dinner was almost ready and Bruce was pulling some plates from one of the cabinets.

“JARVIS?” John began, “Can you let Clint know that dinner is almost ready?”

…

Both doctors looked up in confusion when the AI didn’t respond to them.

“JARVIS?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!  
> As the title suggests there will be more, so stay tuned.


	7. Caw, Caw Motherfucker (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both doctors looked up in confusion when the AI didn’t respond to them.  
> “JARVIS?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Did you miss me?_
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, point one: I'm sorry that I missed last weeks update. I decided to prioritise my Essay on apoptosis over posting on AO3.  
> To make up for it I have an extra long chapter today! (5k vs the just shy of 2k of last chapter)  
> I briefly thought about dividing it into two pieces, but you deserve a treat and it is a bit easier for me story wise. 
> 
> So, enjoy!!

Bruce cursed, which was unusual for the mostly calm man. “This can’t be good.”

John wholeheartedly agreed. JARVIS had never before not answered and since it was an AI and not a person he couldn’t be simply distracted.

So, the former army doctor responded swiftly. First turning off the stove and then rooting through one of the drawers for a gun. Both Clint and Natasha had various weapons stashed all over there apartments and even Bruce was familiar enough with this to not even acknowledge that John just drew a gun from admits the spoons.

John briefly checked the gun out of habit before turning to his companion, “You probably know the layout of the building better than I do. Where do you suggest we go.”

“That normally depends on what’s happening,” the part-time goliath explained, “In case of an attack I would either go for one of the safe rooms or outside and let the rest handle it. But we don’t know what is happening or if the others are aware something is wrong.”

“I’m supposed to do the same, but it might be better to see if we can warn the others first,” John intoned while starting to make his way to the door, “Thor is still here, don’t he and Steve normally spar around this time?”

“Yes,” Bruce replied, following the former soldier at a more sedated pace, “Thor calls it building up an appetite, although I don’t see why he needs to.”

John snickered a bit before becoming serious once again, “The gym is two floors down if I’m not mistaken. Do you have your phone with you?”

“Uh, yes?” the other replied, confused by the no sequence.

“Try to call Tony, chances are that he doesn’t know what is going on,” the blond explained, while pulling his own phone from his pocket, “I’ll try and reach Steve.”

Bruce only needed to pull out his phone to know that it wasn’t going to be that easy. One of the first things he noticed when looking at his phone was that he didn’t have service, which was ridiculous since they were in the middle of New York. It did, however, insinuate that whoever had shut down JARVIS was well prepared.

“I don’t have service.”

“Me neither,” John replied, “We’re probably better off finding them the hard way.”

“Or,” Bruce cut in, “We could go to one of the safe rooms.”

John seemed to think for a moment, “We could. But I’ll feel better if I knew that the others were aware of the danger,” he started to explain, “That we only know something is wrong because JARVIS isn’t responding gives me the idea that whoever it is are going for a stealthy surprise attack. Which means that attackers need to move up through the tower since any other way would be way to visible in the middle of New York.”

“There is a safe room just two stories above us,” Bruce interjected.

“Which means that if we go to the gym it will be only four floors,” John argued, “And if the attackers are below us then it is not like our escape route will be cut off.”

“You sound an awful lot like Clint now,” Bruce accused.

“Apart from the fact that Clint would already have booby-trapped the staircase and taken the vents to go to the gym.”

Bruce heaved a long-suffering sigh, it was a why-do-I-work-with-these-idiots-sigh. Greg had perfected it long before John came around but right now it meant that Bruce was going to give in.

“Fine, but only to the gym and if for any reason we can’t we go straight back up. I really don’t want to Hulk out.”

“As long as you don’t get shot I’ll think you’ll be fine,” John replied, then he started to lead the way, gun first.

As both men kind of expected, the elevator was out of order. If it had been working John would still have taken the stairs but it was still a concerning sight.

The duo made it to the stairs without any problems whatsoever. Their good luck, unfortunately, only lasted one floor. To stay out of sight the two men had been hugging the outer wall with John sporadically peeking down over the railing. And now he spotted something two floors down.

What he saw was an arm clad in black armour holding an automatic rifle. If he was optimistic he would say it could be the police, but John wasn’t that naïve. Their relative positions meant that John and Bruce were one floor above the one with the gym and the armed men one floor below.

So, realistically, he and Bruce could sneak into the gym but it was getting out that was a whole other ballgame. Even if Steve and Thor were in the gym, something they couldn’t be sure off, John didn’t want to take Bruce into a firefight since the guy was basically a civilian and slightly preoccupied with his green roommate. John did kind of want to meet said roommate, but this really wasn’t the time.

Bruce had noticed his concerned thinking face by now so John explained the situation.

“So if we’re not sneaking past then what are we going to do?” Bruce asked at the end of John’s talk.

“I think I have an idea,” John started, “The gym isn’t soundproof, right?”

“Ehm. No, not really. But the walls are quite thick.”

“But both Steve and Thor have excellent hearing,” John continued, “So they could probably hear a gunshot from here.”

“Yes…” Bruce replied a bit unsure before realisation set in, “You’re going to try to shoot them.”

“Yup. And hopefully, they will start shooting back and make enough noise to alert Steve and Thor.”

John took a moment to peak over the railing again, “I can probably hit that one guy in his arm and then take a couple of pot shots to get them in a defensive position. It might be better if you already start going up a bit. I’ll catch up during the shooting.”

Bruce nodded in understanding and turned to leave, but John grabbed his elbow for a moment.

“Just remember to hug the outer wall to stay out of sight,” he advised, “And maybe don’t enter before I get there, just to be safe.”

Bruce looked slightly stressed but he still nodded confidently, “I will. You just make sure you don’t get shot.”

John gave him a wild smile “Been there, done that, wasn’t any fun.”

Bruce huffed out a laugh but didn’t comment further, instead, he finally started his trek upstairs. Meanwhile, John redirected his attention to the men below them.

When he was reasonably sure Bruce had passed Clint’s floor he looked over the railing again. One of the men was standing close enough to the railing that John had a clear view and obvious target. Taking aim didn’t take any time, all the training with his cousin was paying off.

He hit the first guy and then the second one in the arm, then he followed up with several more shots purely to create confusion among the men. He stopped shooting before the men had recovered enough to return fire and instead moved away from the railing towards the outer wall. From there he started to make his way up the stairs towards Bruce.

When he was one floor up, so back on Clint’s floor, John to a peak over the railing again and shot twice at the men below, sparking a whole new salvo of gunshots. John, meanwhile, just legged it up the stairs, determined to not let Bruce wait any longer.

Bruce was indeed waiting were he said he would, by the door the door that led to the floor with the safe room. John nodded at him and then checked his gun once more before leading the way towards their destination.

* * *

All the breath left Steve’s longs as his back hit the ground with quite some force, but he had no time to lay there so he rolled and got back on his feet. Still, since his opponent was both stronger and faster than he was, he couldn’t avoid the next grapple.

This time when he hit the mat he didn’t bother getting up.

“I’m never going to be able to throw you, am I?”

Thor gave a cheerful chuckle, “You probably could if I didn’t fight you, friend Steve. Still, you’re probably the only Midgardian who ever could.”

Steve accepted the hand Thor offered him and let himself be pulled to his feet again. “How about another round?” He offered.

The god grinned delighted, before jogging to the other end of the gym and getting into position. The super soldier did some quick stretches before also getting ready.

Right before the two blonds would start again, Steve raised his hand in a wait position and turned his head.

“Did you hear that?” the captain asked.

The god also turned his head to listen, “What is it that you are referring to?”

“I thought I heard gunfire,” Steve replied, “There it is again!”

Thor’s demander changed as he also recognised the sounds coming from outside. He moved his hand and Mjölnir flew into his hand from the corner of the room. Steve, no matter what Tony said, did not bring his shield with him everywhere. This did, however, not mean that he was defenceless.

The two men left the gym quietly and reorientate themselves. The gunfire seemed to be coming from one of the staircases. The two shared a look and then Steve began to lead the way toward the sound.

Halfway in the hallway Thor suddenly stopped Steve and pointed at the elevator. Steve frowned in confusion and concern as he saw that the thing was off. That was highly unusual and highly concerning. Steve nodded at Thor that he saw it too, before continuing to the staircase.

The doors to the staircase had frosted windows, normally Steve didn’t pay much attention to it be now it meant that he needed to be careful about his shadow. Something the men on the other side of the door didn’t seem to realise, as he was casting a very clear and obvious silhouette.

Steve signalled to Thor to join him and the grinning god took his position. Then Steve counted down on his fingers. 3, 2, 1 … and then threw his weight into opening the door.

The door flew open as expected and hit the man behind it. Since Steve was using both his weight and strength, the door didn’t quite stop there. Instead, it continued into the men behind the first unlucky soul, causing at least two of the heavily armed man to tumble down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Thor was also acting. While Steve was focusing on the men downstairs from them, Thor turned to the men that had already passed the door and were thus higher on the stairs. He started by grabbing the first man in range and simply threw him over the railing a floor down.

While the armed intruders had the advantage of numbers the two Avengers where a lot better in hand to hand combat. Despite neither of the blonds really being used to fighting in such close quarters the cramped space was working in their advantage for the moment, as their fire weapons became almost useless.

The fight was quick and brutal so it didn’t take long before the half-dozen assailants were down. Steve briefly wondered if they should do more to immobilise the intruders but especially with their weapons broken they didn’t pose a threat anymore. Instead, he turned to one of the few men who was still conscious.

The awkward angle of his leg betrayed a broken bone but Steve didn’t really care about that. He simply lifted the man by vest so he could hold him at eye height with the man’s feet dangling above the floor.

“What are you doing here and who are you working for?”

“The boss went ahead to the penthouse,” The man started to squeal, “we were told to clear the floors bottom to top.”

Well, that was easy. Steve dropped the man where he crumpled to the floor and turned to Thor.

“How about we go the penthouse and bring this ‘boss’ a visit?” Steve asked.

Thor gave him a wide smile in return and readjusted his grip on Mjölnir, “That sounds like an excellent idea.”

Steve leaned over the railing for a second to look up and down the staircase. “Let’s take the other staircase. Then we have a good chance of running into another group of intruders.”

Thor simply nodded before starting to lead the way while merrily spinning Mjölnir in his hand. When they arrived at the door to the other staircase they slipped through quietly. This time there were no intruders right before their door, but there were some noises indicating a group of people right above them.

“Thor,” Steve whispered, “Can you fly up past them? Then I’ll cut off their way down.”

A big grin and a nod was his answer before Thor spun Mjölnir and launched himself up.

Thor, as expected, startled the armed intruded and prompted a rain of bullets. Steve wasn’t really worried, Thor was pretty bulletproof, but he still started to take the stairs two at a time. The faster they finished the fight the better.

This fight might have gone by even quicker than the last and soon all the men were down. A short interview resulted in no new information and the two Avengers started to make their way to the top floor encountering no other obstacles and only a short detour for Steve to grab his shield.

When they arrived on the top floor both men became serious once again and quietly made their way to the open space of the main room. The sight that greeted them there was unexpected.

“Welcome gentleman, I was honestly expecting your colleague's first bit this just means that you will have to wait for them.”

* * *

_Earlier_

Pepper was working on some last minute adjustments in her office. She quite enjoyed moments like this when the building was relatively silent due to the hour and she wasn’t over her ears into paperwork. She was already practically done and almost ready to leave, her secretary had already left, when she thought she heard a noise coming from the hallway.

Normally it wouldn’t catch her attention due to the constant noise that would filter through her door from the rest of the floor. But since she was the last one there was no background noise and she wasn’t expecting any visitors this late.

“JARVIS? Is there someone to see me?” She asked, slightly confused.

Her head shot up as the AI failed to answer, “JARVIS?”

This was bad. JARVIS was not supposed to be off-line, almost ever. Tony had gotten pretty paranoid about who and how the AI could be shut down after Stane, so no answer was very bad news.

Pepper resolutely pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a couple of things she had gotten from Tony, including a tracker the size of a penny she activated and then put on the inside of her bra. The emergency trigger could wait till she had a somewhat better idea of what was going on.

Next, she grabbed her bag and pulled out some other things she could need before kicking off her high heels and switching them out for sensible sneakers. Now that she was as prepared as she was going to be she tiptoed to the door and slowly opened it a little bit.

She surveyed the space outside off her office with the help of her small makeup mirror. At first glance, everything seemed fine in the open space but then she spotted someone in all black crossing to check another corridor.

Waiting a moment to make clear no one else was going to appear Pepper slipped out of her office and ducked behind her secretaries desk. Using the mirror to keep an eye out for more men she thought about the best course of action.

She needed to get somewhere safe since her changes of sneaking out of the building were not good. That meant making it to one of the safe rooms and there was one on the floor right above her own. She was kind of regretting not letting Tony install a safe room directly connected to her office, but this was absolutely not the time.

Now that she had a destination in mind she needed a way to get there. If JARVIS was down there was a good chance that the elevators weren’t working either so that meant the stairs.

She first needed to get rid of that wandering intruder, then the west staircase would both be closest to her and to the safe room. So before the man could reappear she grabbed a stapler off the desk she was hiding behind. Then she waited.

When the man reappeared again Pepper threw the stapler to the side before he could disappear into another corridor. Her view in her mirror told Pepper that the man stopped at the sound and then turned to where to stapler had landed to investigate the noise.

When he was close enough and had his back mostly turned into Pepper’s direction, she stood up and resolutely rammed her taser into his neck. He went down without hardly any fuss.

Pepper pushed the now unconscious man mostly behind one of the desks before making her way in the directions of the stairs. She carefully checked corners and side corridors with her trusted mirror.

Her next obstacle was right before the doors to the stairs, two men were standing guard. Since the other staircase was probably not any better Pepper too a deep breath, stood up straight and fixed her clothes.

Then she turned the corner and marched straight at the guards with her, as Tony dubbed it, queen-off-the-world-walk. Before the men had a decent chance to respond she aimed and fired her canister of pepper-spray. Most pepper-sprays could, at best, cover a distance of about 3 to 4 meters. Hers, as it was specially made by Tony Stark, could easily cover twice that distance making it almost a ranged weapon.

Two quick zaps with the taser and Pepper started her track upstairs. Not knowing what she would find on this floor she proceeded with caution, helped by her little mirror.

The coast seemed clear, so she made her way towards the safe room. There she stumbled upon a concerning development. Two men were guarding the safe room just as she previously encountered downstairs. This meant that they knew where the safe rooms were and that was _not_ supposed to happen.

Apparently, she had been standing still in the open for too long as she suddenly felt a rough hand on her shoulder. Not waiting even a millisecond to see what was going to happen next Pepper turned and brought her arm up. The combination of the force of her turn and the support of her other hand made sure that her elbow had plenty of speed and power behind it as she made it connect with her assailant's nose.

The man let out a pained cry and Pepper knew for a fact that the guards would have heard him. If she was fast she might be able to lure them away and still access the safe room.

Unfortunately, in her hurry to get away from the guards she doesn’t have the time to check her corners anymore and she walks straight into the barrel of a gun. She can hear the other men come up behind her as she raises her hands and discreetly triggers the emergency signal.

“Tell the boss we got her,” one of the intruders says into a radio, “We’re bringing her up now.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Bruce and John encounter one of the same problems Pepper had. There are two men standing guard for the safe room that they were making their way towards.

John huffs out an annoyed breath, “That doesn’t look good.”

Bruce looks mostly concerned by the news, “Now what?”

“I don’t really fancy getting into a firefight with these guys,” John replies, “God knows how many more men are wandering about. But if they know this safe room then the others are probably also compromised. Which raises the question, which place is the easiest to defend?”

After a moment of thought, Bruce replied, “The easiest defendable place would probably be the labs. Since they are reinforced and absolutely chockfull with potential weaponry thanks to Tony.”

“But they are a long way down.”

“But they are a long way down.” Bruce confirmed, “And therefore probably not our best choice.”

“That is right,” John said as he got ready again, “But you remained me of something. Clint’s and Natasha’s room are both absolutely filled to the brim with weapons if you know where to look. That is probably our best bet at the moment.”

“And that is only two floors down,” Bruce acknowledged.

John nodded and then started to lead the way again. It didn’t take the two long to get back to the floor they had started on. John took a moment to peek over the railing but didn’t see anything interesting. They also didn’t meet anybody which is both good, no one is shooting at them, and bad, where is everybody else?

Back in Clint’s apartment the first thing John does is find a new gun, one that is accompanied by some additional ammunition. Then he glances at Bruce.

“Have you ever handled a gun?”

“Yes,” Bruce somehow manages to convey a lot of distance and distress in one single word.

John eyed him for a moment, “Normally I would give a civilian a gun anyway. But you sound more likely to Hulk out than use a gun.”

After that short interruption, the two men started to work. There was enough material to barricade the door and to set a nasty booby trap. At some point, John used the vents in the kitchen above the counter to go next door.

“I’m going to borrow some of Nat’s knives I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Nat lets you borrow her knives?”

“Well,” John replied, “She showed me where she keeps them and if I have a good reason she won’t kill me for borrowing them.”

During setting up John recalled some stories, mostly to help Bruce keep calm.

“This entire thing remains me of my survival training.”

“Getting stuck in a tower with an unknown amount of hostiles remains you of survival training?” Bruce asked, a tad unsure.

“I was referring to building barricades actually,” John responded, “Survival training was really hit and miss in what turned out to be useful.”

“How so?”

“Well, a good example would be one of my camouflage exercises,” John reminisced, “I was quite good at. Pretty sure I fell asleep one time, the exercise was too short, but no one noticed because they couldn’t see me.”

Bruce shook his head with a small smile, “But how was that not useful?”

“We had that particular training in a forest,” John deadpanned, “And then I served in Afghanistan, which as you know isn’t known for its forests.”

In the end, it didn’t take the two men long to set everything up. This turned out to be a good thing because it didn’t take long before they heard people move around on the hallway. Judging by the noise this group had started their search with Nat her apartment. Not that they would find anything there, especially because they were looking for people.

As they heard the men trying to open Clint’s door John helped Bruce on to the counter. One of the advantages of the two apartments was that they could easily switch between the two by the vents, something that most people don’t realise is possible.

Bruce wasn’t too upset with the small space but still happy to be back on solid ground in Natasha’s kitchen. John landed next to him on silent feet and not a moment too soon as an explosion rang out from next door. Their trap had gone off.

Now the question was, how long would it take them to search Clint’s apartment and would they come back to look through Nat’s again. They would be safest if they could convince that they weren’t on this floor at all.

John was planning to take a look through the vents to get a better idea of what was happening and was already on the counter when the door was kicked open with a loud _BANG._

John turned and aimed his gun in one smooth move. But the two doctors were greeted by three men with rifles in the door.

“Don’t even think about it,” the man closest to them barked, “Playing hide and seek is over. Now the two of us are coming with us and doctor, I would advise you to stay calm. You wounded want anything to happen to your _friend._ ”

* * *

_Earlier_

“Welcome gentleman, I was honestly expecting your colleague's first bit this just means that you will have to wait for them.”

Whatever Steve and Thor had been expecting when they arrived in the penthouse, it wasn’t quite this.

There were about two dozen men present, all armed and aiming at the two Avengers. This wouldn’t have been quite a concern wasn’t it for one little thing.

The leader or the one Steve assumed was the leader since he was doing the talking, had Pepper in front of him in something resembling a chokehold with a gun to her head. The way he was holding her meant that there was no way for Steve to hit him. The same probably went for Thor, Clint was probably capable of making such a shot but he wasn’t here.

At least the righteous anger and fire in Pepper’s eyes proved that she wasn’t too hurt.

“Now if you would be so kind to put your weapons on the counter,” the man continued, “And take a seat. We wounded want anything to happen to dear Miss Potts.”

Steve glared to the man for a moment but then complied. Thor followed suit and the two Avengers were shown a seat on one of the couches in the sunken living room. The armed men formed a half circle around them, effectively trapping them between guns and the window. It also gave the intruders a slight high ground that meant that the leader was looking down at them.

Steve glowered at the obvious power play.

The leader gave a condescending smile from behind Pepper’s strawberry blond hair. But before he could start talking again an explosion rang out from somewhere below them.

The leader frowned, “Your colleagues are proving to be a little bit more annoying than expected.”

The hope that flared up didn’t last long unfortunately as the radio’s sparked to life not much later and a pleased smile donned the leaders face.

“Now we’re just waiting for our last guests.”

* * *

Bruce sneaked another look at his companion. John was presenting a calm persona, but for some reason, it remained Bruce more of a smouldering volcano than anything else.

The goons had searched John for weapons and confiscated his gun and a starling number of knives. Then he had spared Bruce for a similar rough treatment by telling Bruce was unarmed.

“And we should believe you?” One of them had asked suspiciously.

“It is not like he needs it,” John replied with a biting tone, “He said they make him uncomfortable and I didn’t argue.”

The men didn’t argue either and seemed a bit relieved.

Bruce’s heart did sink a little further when they arrived. Seeing Pepper being held hostage and Steve and Thor sitting on the couch with barely contained rage didn’t exactly paint a hopeful picture.

Now that Bruce and John were added to the two other Avengers on the cough, undoubtedly to provide an easy target, the leader felt apparently save enough to pawn Pepper off to one of his goons. The situation didn’t improve at all since Pepper was still in the exact same position. Only the leader now had more mobility to gloat and _talk._

“Look at you now, the mighty Avengers brought down by some simple manipulations,” The leader started, “What many before us couldn’t do with literal armies we accomplished without even alerting the public. It was beyond easy to lure the black widow away with some well-placed rumours and intel, not to speak of the mighty Tony Stark! Now on a wild goose chase on the west coast, not knowing that those ‘attempts’ were mere test runs for the grand finale.”

“Your AIM.” Steve accused.

“Yes, we are AIM,” The leader replied, “The mere idea years of organisation can be wiped out by just killing the founder. And Stark calls himself a _genius_. No, our work is more a stroke of genius than Stark could ever come up with. Using the weaker members to manipulate the more invincible once worked beautifully did it not, especially because we knew how to cut off all the possible escape routes by shutting down Stark’s _precious_ AI and guarding the safe rooms.”

Bruce is slightly surprised as he listens to the instigator of this attack, well, monologue. He doesn’t normally get close enough to hear the villain of the day talk, or if he does the Hulk generally doesn’t care. But he had thought Tony was exaggerating the number of monologues they got, apparently, he was wrong.

He took a moment to regard the others sitting with him. Steve and Thor were white-knuckled with rage. John was the one that seemed the calmest of them all, but his eyes kept cutting to the window.

Bruce knew that Tony was already on his way with the Iron Man suit. No way that JARVIS cutting out would go unnoticed by the engineer. But they had no idea when he would arrive.

That John looked so collected was probably the reason Bruce was so surprised when the other doctor suddenly stood up and raised his hands to about shoulder height in a clear ‘I am unarmed’ signal.

“That was a very clever plan,” John started, as he took a careful step closer to the wall of guns aimed their way.

The leader was clearly thrown off by the sudden interruption, while the Avengers just gaped at the man in confusion. Bruce knew from stories that John could be a bit reckless, but this took the cake.

“Very clever,” John continued, still walking forward slowly, “But as a good friend of mine once said, there is always something.”

“And what would that be?” The boss of the intruders asked mockingly.

John just smiled a small smile that really didn’t reach his eyes.

“Caw, caw Motherfucker”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one beast of a chapter and I'm sad to say it will probably be the longest chapter in this series so the next chapter will be shorter again.  
> Still, I hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is always welcome!


	8. Caw, Caw motherfucker (part 3)

_“Caw caw_ _motherfucker.”_

The next sound everyone in the room hears is the window violently scattering. And almost in the same instant, an arrow has borrowed itself into the goon holding Pepper. Pepper let out a scream of surprise, but then didn't waste a second to jump to cover behind the counter.

John, who had gotten quite close to the wall of guns while he was talking, takes immediate advantage of the confusion. With some quick and practised moves he has two men down and liberated a weapon for himself. He didn’t wait at all to start shooting while his cousin covered him from his position on top of the counter.

Meanwhile, the remaining Avengers hadn’t been sitting still. The moment he had seen his change Steve had grabbed Bruce unceremonially by the back of his shirt and hauled the still not green doctor over to the counter to deposit him next to Pepper. Then Steve reclaimed his shield from the counter and joined John in one smooth movement, using his shield as a battering ram.

As soon as the other two Avengers were moving Thor didn’t wait before joining the fray. He started by throwing the closest thing, which just so happened to be the couch, into the group of gunmen behind them. Then he followed up by simply jumping bodily into the fight, hardly bothering to wait for Mjölnir, who zoomed over from its position on the counter.

The relatively small space of the room in comparison to the number of people was an advantage to the Avengers just like it had been for Steve and Thor back on the staircase. The close quarters meant that the intruders couldn’t optimally use their weapons to shoot.

In contrast to the fights on the staircase, the Avengers had fewer problems with limited space. Thor had, by somewhat isolating himself from his allies, enough room for his broad swings with Mjölnir. The absolute chaos he was causing by simply being an unstoppable force was protecting the side of the counter that was still sheltering Bruce and Pepper.

Steve was, just like Thor, drawing a lot of fire to himself simply by fighting front and centre and presenting himself as the biggest danger and target. Additionally, his position practically on top of the attacking front line meant that these intruders didn’t really have the change to shoot at Clint and John. Meanwhile, the men behind these front lines didn’t have clear sightlines due to their own colleague's standing in the way.

John technically had the same problem as the attackers, apart from that Steve was only one man and thus didn’t block all possible targets at the same time. John had ones shot a man through two panes of glass, covering Steve so he didn’t get overrun was easily within his range of capabilities.

Clint, meanwhile, didn’t quite have the same limitation as John. Clint’s position on top of the counter gave him a high ground that he was happily abusing by shooting arrows in the backlines. This was causing the intruders to be squished between a rock named Steve and the hard place of Clint’s destruction.

The Avengers were a well-oiled fighting machine, despite missing some of its members, courtesy of many training session and a ton of experience. Still, the sheer number of adversaries put them at a disadvantage, especially because the Avengers needed to keep position to protect Bruce and Pepper.

Eventually, the intruders managed to reorganise and fall back, creating more distance between them and the Avengers and making their weapons more effective. This caused the Avengers to fight even more defensive than before.

John and Clint had already needed to fall back behind the counter to get more cover, although it was not really slowing them down much. And Thor had joined Steve in front of the counter to protect the entire group from any frontal attacks.

The battle suddenly ground to a halt as the leader, who was miraculously still standing, geared up to give another speech.

Despite the sudden lull in gunfire, the Avengers couldn’t actually launch an attack. Both John and Clint were to perceptible to being shot and Thor and Steve couldn’t leave their defensive position without compromising the safety of the others.

“YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!” the leader shouted, sounding a tad crazy, “Your little stunt is doomed to fail! I have more men coming up right this moment! If you hadn’t decided to undertake such a foolish action this would have been a perfect and ‘deathless’ take-over! That does not mean we will hesitate to break some eggs! Surrender NOW and the consequences will be only mild!”

An uneasy silence settled as the Avengers were unwilling to give in to any demands, but while Thor might be fast enough to bridge the gap between the Avengers and the hostile gunmen before they resumed fire, this would leave the remaining Avengers without the necessary defences.

“We can hold,” Steve states, underlined by the sound off John reloading.

“Don’t be a fool,” the leader snarled, “Put _DOWN_ your shield.”

 

“Sir seems to disagree with you.”

 

The arrival of Iron Man was accompanied with the piercing whine of his repulsors, there was only no accompanying sound of broken glass because Clint had already destroyed the window.

“I have had a spectacularly _bad_ day,” Tony announced annoyed to the room at large, “Which of you fucktards do I have to blame?”

Tony’s arrival turned the tides very drastically. Previously, the Avengers were working around the problem that they weren’t actually bulletproof, safe for Thor and that their heavy hitters needed to be close to their targets.

Tony had neither of these problems.

This relative calm before the storm Tony’s arrival caused was soon abused by Clint, who used this opportunity to finally put an arrow in the leader of the attack on the tower. Immediately after, everything descended into chaos again.

Steve and Thor threw themselves forward into the attackers, safe in the knowledge that Tony was guarding the others. They were aided in their frontal assault by some well-placed shots of Tony’s destructive repulsors.

With the sudden influx of firepower on their side, the fight was quickly swaying into the Avengers favour. It didn’t take long before the Avengers had overpowered the intruders.

This would be the moment that the backup of the intruders would arrive. The newcomers hadn’t expected to find the situation to be already so much in the Avengers favour. On top of that their arrival wasn’t unnoticed and therefore met with a repulsor blast, smoothly followed by Mjölnir and some destructive arrows.

Not long after the fight was really over.

“Tell me that was all of them, J,” Tony said while his faceplate opened.

“Indeed sir,” The AI replied from one of his speakers, “The last call for back up drew all the remaining intruders upstairs. My scans indicate that there are only some wounded remaining.”

“Beautiful,” The engineer replied, “How far out are the clean-up crews?”

“SHIELD ETA is fifteen minutes, sir,” JARVIS replied easily, “Local authorities have been informed that the threat is resolved, as was War Machine. Some firefighters would still like to check the sight of the explosion.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let them up,” Tony instructed, making an irritated hand motion. Then he turned to address the others who were being checked over for injuries by John.

“Who was responsible for the explosion anyway?”

“What are you looking at me for?” Clint exclaimed, indignant. Then Bruce interjected, “That would have been John and me.”

“You built a bomb?” The engineer asked, somewhere between amazed and concerned.

“No,” the part-time Goliath replied, “John built a bomb, or rather, a trap.”

“Where did you learn that?” Tony asked the blond doctor, confused.

“In the army,” John deadpanned back while looking at a scratch on Steve’s side, it wasn’t that deep.

“What?!”

John turned to look at the utterly confused engineer, “How do you not know this?”

Then the blond turned to his cousin, “How does he not know this?” he asked, accusing, “Did you really didn’t tell him anything about me?”

“He told me to take my boring details to Pepper!” the archer defended.

“What are these boring details we are talking about?” Thor asked interested and slightly confused.

“In this case the fact that I served in the army and did multiple tours to Afghanistan.”

“But you are a doctor!” Tony protested.

John rubbed his temples, “I was in the RAMC.”

The hand motions the engineer made clearly conveyed his question on how that was at all relevant. Meanwhile, the rest of the Avengers were enjoying the show.

“RAMC,” the blond doctor started, “stands for Royal Army Medical Corps. I was an army doctor.”

“And,” John continued forcefully, when Tony pulled open his mouth again, “I know it is called the Medical Corps in the American army. RAMC is British since I’m British and consequently served in the British army. Or did you miss that too?”

The engineer either missed or ignored the jab, “Then why do you know how to build a bomb?”

“I spend a disproportional amount of time in the field compared to other medics because I’m also good with a gun.”

“Why didn’t I know this?” Tony lamented, “I can’t have been the only one. Who did know this?”

Bruce, Steve, Pepper and Clint all raised their hands.

“I thought it was a family trait,” Thor commented unconcerned.

The engineer let his head drop into his hands and groaned. Then he turned to John again.

“Absolutely fantastic!” Tony complained, “Anything else you have been keeping from me? Anything at all?!”

“Clint is a really good cook?” John replied, unsure.

The engineer stared at the doctor with disbelief in his eyes.

“Bullshit.”

“He!” the archer replied, offended.

“Clint, you always bring takeout,” Tony replied, “It is good takeout, I still want to know where you got that Indian from last week, but you don’t cook.”

“Just because I never gave you any of my cooking doesn’t mean I can’t.” Clint shot back.

“Bullshit.”

“Bite me.”

 

Clint and Tony were still stuck in a pointless back and forth by the time SHIELD showed up to collect the intruders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is everybody? I hope you enjoyed the last part of Caw, Caw.  
> There are still some more chapters in the works for Healing, so I'm not quite done yet.  
> I would like to hear how the more plot-driven Caw, Caw chapters compared to my normal (for this series) stand-alone fluff/humour pieces.


	9. Nat and John vs the supermarket

Something universal across countries seemed to be shopping carts and their tiny uncontrollable wheels. They had them back in London and apparently, they also existed in the states. And since Natasha didn’t want to deal with the uncontrollable terrors, John was stuck pushing the cart.

The entire reason that they were even dealing with the uncontrollable terrors was because Clint had _finally_ decided to actually cook for the team and thus needed groceries. Not that his cousin was actually here. No, Clint was visiting some smaller shops for specific ingredients because groceries stores were only good for ‘mass produced tasteless filler’ and he could spend his time better by finding the good ingredients, apparently.

Nat had commandeered the, incredibly detailed, groceries list and was leading them through the aisles.

“I still can’t quite believe you convinced him to cook for the team.” The redhead commented.

“It was quite easy as soon as I had Tony on board, that man is relentless.” John replied easily, “Still, I will be happy when those two are done arguing. I’m glad JARVIS got the proof to shut at least one of those discussions down.”

“It was an absurd notion to begin with,” Natasha complained, “As if AIM would forget about an entire Avenger.”

The entire AIM debacle had left a sour taste with the Black Widow. She was professionally offended that she had been lured anywhere at all. The spy had retaliated by burning that particular branch of the organisation to the ground and salting the earth for good measure. Local authorities and intelligence agencies had a busy week after the Black Widow was done.

Another result of the attack was the bickering Clint and Tony had gotten into. The first subject was whether or not Clint could cook, resulting in the archer planning to ‘blow all of their taste buds out of the water’ and the current shopping trip.

The other subject was if AIM had forgotten about Hawkeye during their attack or not. Clint had been able to plan and execute his absolutely ridiculous attack (including him rappelling on the outside of the building) because AIM had been convinced they had rounded up all the Avengers (and Pepper). Tony had hypothesised that AIM had forgotten about the archer while Bruce had defended that it was more likely that they had confused the cousins. Since one of the people at AIM had seemed surprised to find John.

JARVIS had put that particular discussion to rest by finding some of the internal conversations of AIM during the attack. This clearly showed that the intruders had communicated that they had found both Hawkeye and the Hulk at the same time.

Being mistaken for an Avenger or not, John still had to deal with people blocking an entire aisle by parking two shopping carts next to each other while they talked.

Instead of setting an annoyed Black Widow on the two chatting ladies John gently steered Natasha towards the next aisle. Which was thankfully free of similar blockades.

“Have you given Thor an answer yet?” Natasha asked.

The blond doctor groaned in response, “Someone so big should not be capable to pull of puppy eyes,” he responded, “And I have been trying to tell him that I can’t spar with him but he doesn’t really seem deterred.”

“Hasn’t Steve been asking you the exact same thing?” the redhead teased.

“Well, yes,” John allowed, “But Steve actually remembers that I’m a squishy mortal.”

Natasha grinned and grabbed one of the boxes. Instead of just throwing it in the cart she took a moment to compare the name of the brand with Clint’s list. Deeming it the right one the duo moved on further.

“I think you showed that you're just fine here in the tower,” the widow mused, “I remember Clint going on and on how everyone thought that the tower wasn’t the right place to recover from depression.”

“You lot would have sent most sane men screaming,” John replied, unbothered.

“You don’t count yourself under sane men anymore?” Natasha asked, fake innocence in her voice.

“I didn’t think of myself as normal since the army,” John mused, “But I think I stopped referring to myself as sane somewhere during my time with Sherlock,”

The redhead snickered before looking up at one of the signs hanging from the ceiling denoting the products in the shopping aisles. When she found the one she wanted they continued along.

“Speaking of your flatmate,” Nat started, “Pepper told me that you are quite a good writer.”

“People were going to find it eventually, especially after I told Tony to just google me,” the doctor began, “Which reminds me, I have to ask JARVIS to warn me when Tony gets to Reinbach. And maybe for Thor too…”

“You do know Steve is reading it too, right?” his companion commented.

“But Steve isn’t as likely to blow Sherlock’s cover or destroy a building,” John argued, “But I should probably just put up the alert for everybody.”

“Good luck talking everybody out of rioting.”

“Thanks, Nat,” the doctor deadpanned, “I’m counting on them _not_ all finishing at the same time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter.  
> Kodus and Comments are highly appreciated (next chapter is partly due to inspiration gained from comments).


	10. England Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> England Interlude.  
> Featuring a pissed off Fury, a confused Mycroft and a delighted Greg.

_England, London, undisclosed location_

 

“Sir?”

Mycroft looked up from the dossier he was reading, mildly annoyed. He hadn’t expected any interruptions.

“What is it, Athena?”

“Director Fury wants to speak with you,” His assistant replied, “Although I’m not sure why. He does, however, sound a bit annoyed.”

To the untrained ear director Fury always sounded angry, but Athena had enough practice to discern Fury’s normal tone from his real angry voice. Mycroft did wonder what the director of SHIELD thought he done since they hadn’t had any recent contact with the organisation.

Still, he could not just ignore Fury, “Put him through.”

Mycroft put the dossier away as his screen lit up with the image of a quite peeved Nick Fury.

_“You sly, motherfucker.”_

“Hello to you too, Nicholas. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

_“Don’t play innocent now, Holmes. You said you had no interest in the Avengers.”_

Mycroft had absolutely no idea what the other man was talking about. Still, his face betrayed absolutely nothing.

“And I continue to have no interest in your hastily cobbled together ‘superhero team’” the British official replied honestly.

_“Don’t bother lying about it. I want his file.”_

“ _His_ file?” Mycroft asked, voice still betraying nothing. He looked as Fury clearly worked himself up more, faced with what seemed a lack of cooperation.

 _“John Watson’s file,”_ the director all but bit out, _“How you thought I would miss the obvious connection is beyond me. Although I am impressed that you eventually managed to give that little brother of yours a babysitter.”_

Mycroft, meanwhile, fought the urge to raise a single disbelieving eyebrow. “You want John Watson’s file?”

 _“Yes,”_ Fury stressed, _“And just so you don’t weasel out of it. I want your file, not the public distraction that you set in place.”_

“Of course,” Mycroft agreed, face still hiding his confusion about the conversation, “Anything else, director?”

 _“Next time you sent a spy to keep a finger on the pulse, don’t lie about it,”_ Fury replied, annoyed, _“Although I’m not surprised that someone who can keep up with that brother of yours adapts like a fish in the water to Avengers Tower.”_

With those parting words, the connection was cut. Leaving Mycroft with more questions than answers.

The main conclusion about the conversation is that John Watson apparently doesn’t need Sherlock to get into peculiar situations.

Deciding to get to the bottom of this conundrum Mycroft closes his eyes and sinks into his mind palace. John had left England on the invitation of his ‘cousin’, who lived in America. The doctor had arrived safely in the continent, but there the man tasked with shadowing the doctor had lost him.

Normally this would have been reason for some repercussions wasn’t it the case that the spy had spotted someone on their list of ‘persons of interest’ and had made the (correct) decision to switch targets.

Now Mycroft mentally pulled up the report again, there had been something. That was it, the operative had mentioned that there had been some excitement around the entrance of the airport due to the presence of two of the Avengers. When he had read it the first time this had hardly seemed relevant but with the new information in got a whole new meaning.

Now, the connection between John and the Avengers must be the ‘cousin’, as that had also been the only reason John had left to America in the first place. Here Mycroft needed to admit that he didn’t have sufficient information. At the time he had been distracted by some delicate and complicated business related to China. He would need to find out about this ‘cousin’ by other sources.

On paper, John didn’t have a cousin and Mycroft didn’t really want to waste his time searching John’s family tree. Besides, it was very likely that he could get this information from a particular bright goldfish.

It has been a while since he last saw Gregory.

* * *

 

Greg was not having a good day. The weather had been the same droopy raining depressing mess for days and he was required to be outside, in the cold, to oversee the current crime scene.

His mood did not really improve when he saw a sleek black car pull up a little bit down the street. He hadn’t seen Mycroft Holmes for a while now, which was probably for the best since the DI was quite cross with the other man at the moment.

Greg watched as the other man walked over, umbrella present as always and for once used for its intended purpose. More important, he was also carrying two coffees. On one hand, Greg was still cross, on the other, coffee. Besides, no one could get the British government to do anything he didn’t want to.

“Mr Holmes,” the silver-haired man greeted while accepting the coffee.

“Gregory,” Mycroft replied, “Some poor women killed by her pimp? Dreadful business.”

Greg filed that titbit of information away. They were nowhere near a stage that they had any real idea what happened, but a Holmes was seldom wrong. It did raise the question of why Mycroft was here. It wasn’t the murder, even Sherlock wouldn’t have come out of bed for this one.

“What is it, Mycroft?” Best to get it over with.

The official paused a moment, probably thinking about how to best formulated his question, “I gather that you still have contact with John. I was wondering if you could tell me more about his cousin?”

The DI eyed the other man from the corner of his eye, “I imagine you have an entire file on the man.”

Was Greg seeing things or did Mycroft’s face turn a bit sour, “I have to admit it is a bit of an oversight, but I was a bit preoccupied at the time.”

The silver-haired man turns to look at the official, eyes blown wide in surprise. Mycroft suppresses a shudder as the DI mouth slowly morphs into a delighted smile.

Then Greg starts to laugh, a loud, full belly laugh. The DI leans forward with the force of it, grabbing a hold of Mycroft to not fall over. Almost as soon as he starts he tries to smother the sound, since he really shouldn’t laugh at a crime scene, motioning at Sally to ignore him.

When he has his breath somewhat back Greg stand up straight again to look at Mycroft. The officials face looks pinched, probably annoyed at how fast he lost control of the conversation. The DI opens his mouth to speak again, clearly enjoying himself.

“The mighty Mycroft Holmes…”

“Gregory,” Mycroft tries to stop him

“…doesn’t know! The British government…”

“ _Gregory,”_

“…personified doesn’t know.” Greg utters absolutely delighted “This is the best thing ever.”

“Gregory,” Mycroft sound tired now.

“I’m going to hold this over you forever,” The DI tells the other, “Which serves you right since I’m still cross with you.”

“Your cross with me?” the official asked, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Yes,” Greg replies, “And the reason I’m cross with you and John’s cousin are connected. So I can explain it all in one fell swoop. But not now. So your punishment will be that you need to _wait._ I have a crime scene to get back to.”

“Gregory,” Mycroft starts, planning on convincing the DI otherwise.

“No,” Greg cuts him off, “I know you already solved it, but I still have work to do. Besides this is a story I want to sit down for.”

With that, the DI walks away, a new bounce in his step. This is shaping up to be a good day.

Meanwhile, Mycroft stands there with even more questions than he started with.

* * *

 

Greg looks at the beer he’s holding, it is clearly a bribe.

Mycroft was not (always) a very patient man. After having told the official to wait for his explanation the DI had had a grand total of fifteen minutes before receiving a text inviting him for dinner.

The dinners are nothing new. Mycroft prefers to talk in an environment where he knows no one is listening and he has complete control over, besides Greg knows first-hand that the official is an excellent cook.  Normally the conversations are about Sherlock, but today it is about John (and a bit about Sherlock).

“So,” Mycroft begins, “Will you finally enlighten me?”

Greg grins and takes a swig of his beer, “I suppose so, but where to start?”

The official shoots him a look, the DI is enjoying the fact that he for once holds all the cards and Mycroft is not happy about it. “John’s cousin, perhaps.”

“Oh we’ll get there,” Greg replies, “But first I’m going to tell you why I’m cross with you.”

Mycroft raises an interested eyebrow but doesn’t interrupt.

“I’m cross with you because you didn’t bother to share that Sherlock is alive”

Three blinks in fast succession and Greg is sure he just managed to surprise Mycroft.

“John’s cousin ran into him when he was abroad for something,” the DI explains, not giving the official a name on purpose, “And since John’s cousin is not a manipulative asshole he told John. Even got Sherlock to write a letter.”

Mycroft looks mildly peeved by the news, probably because Sherlock hadn’t bothered to tell him about the meeting. “That doesn’t tell me a lot about this cousin.”

“Oh, but I’m sure you heard about him, the cousin I mean,” Greg replied, smiling like a fox, “He got a tad famous, not too long ago. After the initial shock, it didn’t surprise me at all the two are related.”

Mycroft shot him a look that clearly conveyed that the man was not appreciating the stalling or the obvious delight of the DI.

“His name,” Greg told theatrical, “Is Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was an absolute delight to write.  
> I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


	11. John and Pepper vs sleazy businessman

Of all the people John had met while staying with his cousin, Virginia ‘Pepper’ Pots seemed to be the most normal. But only at first glance. This might have something to whit the fact that Pepper was (officially) not directly involved in the Avengers and all the crazy superhero things that it entailed.

But, as Clint put it, Pepper was about as normal as John. That was to say, completely normal when you first met and then you slowly found out that no, this person was not normal at all. This might also be why they had hit it off with a fast-blooming friendship.

Consequently, it is not unusual for John to find Pepper if she was somewhere in the tower so they could have lunch together.

It is one of these occasions that John makes his way to one of the many conference rooms when JARVIS told him that Pepper’s meeting was over. He had sandwiches, Clint really knew all the best places, and Pepper normally could use some venting time after these kind of meetings.

The doctor wasn’t surprised to not immediately see the CEO outside the conference room. It regularly happened that people wanted to talk to Pepper after a meeting. Knowing the official meeting was over, and therefore unlikely to disturb anything really important, John simply knocked and leaned in to call his friend.

There was practically no one left in the room, only Pepper and a slightly obese and older white man with a receding hairline which, if you listen to Tony ranting, was the standard appearance for self-proclaimed important people. Or board members, but that was practically the same in the engineer's eyes.

John was proud to say that his instant distaste for the man had nothing to do with pre-set notions and everything with the annoyed and condescending sneer on the man’s face. It didn’t help that Pepper was wearing her ‘I’m only polite because I can’t hit you’ smile on.

“Oh, sorry to interrupt,” John said, also plastering on a fake smile, “I was looking for Miss Potts.”

“Miss Potts is very busy,” the man started, voice slightly louder than necessary.

“I know,” John replied, now fully entering the room, “I’m her lunch meeting. Miss Potts?”

John held out his arm for Pepper to take, not at all impressed by a man who didn’t let her talk for herself and thought he could get his way by making loud demands.

Pepper smiled thankful at the white lie and started to walk around the other occupant towards John.

“Does your boss know you fool around with other men?” the newly dubbed Balding Idiot sneered.

Peppers back went rammond straight as she turned on the man like an angry snake, “Mr Raymond,” She chided with a voice that could cut steel.

John looked the idiot over, taking in the with a trained eye. Then he stepped closer, more into Balding Idiot’s space and cut off what weak defence he was going to utter for his unfounded and spiteful words.

“Mr Raymond,” John started, sweet as the lure in a trap, “Who Miss Potts does or does not spend time with seems to me as none of your concern. You should not be surprised she isn’t interested in _your_ advances if you can’t keep your wife’s attention what could you possibly offer a woman like CEO Pepper Potts?”

As absolutely expected the man turned purple with anger. John was not particularly impressed and didn’t bother waiting till the man had found his voice again.

“Now Miss Potts and I are going to have lunch and discuss the absolutely interesting subjects of force fields. I trust you can find the exit on your own?”

Still angry and apparently not particularly bright, Raymond took a threatening step forward. Not impressed, John stuck out his arm and hit the man’s chest with his palm effectively halting all moment.

“You don’t want to do that, mate,” John intoned, still smiling  but voice cold, “Only one of us had combat training and it isn’t you.”

Apparently, Raymond had some common sense or survival instinct (John was thinking the second) because he blanched a bit and pulled back.

The doctor wordlessly offered his arm again to Pepper, who gladly took it. Then the two walked out.

“I’ll have you fired!” the balding idiot yelled at their receding backs. Neither bothered to acknowledge him.

Once in the relative safety of the elevator, Pepper let out a huge sigh and finally relaxed her shoulders.

“I wonder how he thinks he going to go about it,” John wondered, trying to lift the mood a bit, “You’re the CEO and technically didn’t do anything and I don’t work here. Not that it matters, he doesn’t even know my name.”

Pepper giggled, “That does make his claim rather foolish,” she acknowledged, “Still, I’m happy you showed up. I think Tony has been working on a subroutine called ‘White Knight’ where JARVIS intervenes, but he has been just secretive enough that I think the last escalation is Tony showing up in full armour to read them the riot act.”

“That sounds like a bit overkill,”

“I doubt he was completely awake when he wrote it,” the CEO confided, “Anyway, how did you know Raymond’s marriage is on the rocks?”

“You have been reading my blog right?”

“Yes," Pepper replied, stretching the word uncertain, "I figured you wouldn’t mind now that you practically pointed Tony towards it. But is it that thing Sherlock does?”

“No, I don’t mind,” John reassured, “And yes, I learned it from Sherlock. The biggest hint was his jewellery.”

Pepper shot him a strange look and the doctor explained, “Wedding rings are a treasure trope of information on anyone’s marriage. His was old, which is expected with his age, and _dirty_. Meanwhile, his watch was in pristine condition, just like his cufflinks. So he cares for his jewellery but not his wedding band.”

“It is different seeing it in practice than reading about it,” the CEO mused.

John smiled, “It is more impressive when Sherlock does it. He would have seen more, but he wouldn’t have been half as tactful.”

“Being around Tony shows that sometimes blunt is the way to go,” Pepper replied, “But now let’s see what you brought me, I’m starving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.  
> I hope my try at deductions was reasonable.  
> Kudos and Comments are always welcome!!


	12. John and Hulk vs boredom

To understand how John had gotten into his current situation you first needed to know something else that had been going on in the tower for a while now.

_“Brucie-kins! I have a wonderful idea.”_

_Bruce levelled the engineer whit a withering glare. “Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like this idea?”_

_“Because it involves your greener half?” Tony replied, trying to sound innocent._

It had taken a lot of convincing from the entire team, multiple assurances that Hulk had not shown any aggressive behaviour towards any of the other Avengers and a lot of video evidence to support the claims before Bruce even wanted to _consider_ Tony’s ‘idea’.

As every Avenger had encountered before, the engineer was relentless when he wanted something. In this case, he was actively using Bruce’s own work against him.

_“But Bruuuuuuuuuuuce, we need to test your shields who better than the green guy?”_

_“Every test and calculation supports that it will hold and works as intended.” Bruce shot at Tony, glaring over the edge of his book._

_“But you’ll feel better when we have actually tested it.”_

On top of all that no one could claim that Tony didn’t know how to plan an endeavour like this and keep all possibilities in mind.

_“What about…”_

_“Please Bruce,” Tony interrupted the other, “We went over everything, like, seventy times! We’re going to be on an old testing site in the middle of the desert. There won’t be a living soul around, safe for the Avengers. It will be fine!”_

_“But…”_

_“Bruce, I got this cleared and discussed safety measures with all possible relevant parties. I got it cleared by the angry cyclops in the sky! If there were any problems left mister paranoia with an eyepatch would have found them!”_

So the good doctor had eventually caved to the idea of his friend. To be honest the plan was quite simple. Fly the team to a deserted part of the dessert that had once been used to test missiles and other explosives. Let the Hulk out for some smashing for non-important stuff (Tony had bought some things including an empty shell of a car) and then let Hulk try to smash the new energy shields Tony and Bruce had been working on for a while.

What John understood from the shield was that they were slightly blue domes that worked as a force field. It was supposed to get stronger the more you hit it and therefore unbreakable from both directions. This was apparently a feature Bruce wanted so the shields could be used both to contain something and lock something out. (Tony had apparently managed to condition Bruce out of substituting something for Hulk).

That was all fine and dandy but only the background of John’s current predicament.

* * *

 

John had opted to go along with the endeavour. He had nothing against seeing the big green guy from (semi) up close and argued his way in by Bruce by pointing out that the other doctor was often tired and hungry after a transformation and John was an actual medical professional and could look after him for a bit.

Another plus point was meeting James Rhodes or Rhodey (or Sugarbear if you listen to Tony). The two had an interesting talk about annoying weather phenomena in Afghanistan and Rhodey thanked him for the recent visual of dumbstruck Tony. The Colonel was apparently on JARVIS’s ‘funny shit that happened in the tower’ e-mail list.

Once arrived at the location John had set up shop in the single warehouse on location, which was pretty much one giant hall. Thor and Steve had taken a moment to drag some couches into the room (they were going to barbecue after and Tony always went big).

When everything was set up Bruce had transformed into the Hulk. John had been slightly surprised at how _big_ and how _fast_ the Goliath was. But the blond doctor could also see what the other Avengers had been telling him about the Hulk. Especially as he watched the green guy smash the car casing whit something that could only be described as childish glee. It was oddly reminisced of Sherlock with a good locked room murder.

* * *

 

So, all still fine. Pretty good actually. And made the fact that John was currently sitting on one of the couches wondering whether or not Hulk would appreciate a cup of tea all the weirder.

Hulk was also sitting on a couch and was looking a strange mixture of annoyed, mildly irritated and bored.

The doctor still wasn’t quite sure what happened, but at least the following.

* * *

 

Tony had just started to show the shields to Hulk. He had set one up, without anything in it and then fired a repulsor blast at the dome. Hulk, not to be outdone by shellhead, had tried to one-up his friend by throwing a large rock at the shield. Neither had any effect, which was expected.

Tony had then turned the dome off again and explained to the green goliath what the blue-ish domes were and that they wanted to know if Hulk could break them.

Hulk’s reply had indicated that he pretty confident in his smashing abilities and that he thought it sounded like a neat game.

Unfortunately, Tony didn’t even get the change to set the shield up again before everyone’s attention was caught by something a bit farther up north. Or more accurately, everyone with enhanced senses noticed and the others noticed that their friends noticed something was up.

The problem revealed itself and everything went pretty downhill from there.

The army had shown up.

Hulk immediately became agitated by the sight of the green-clad soldiers. Tony, meanwhile, was trying to choose between soothing Hulk and telling the intruders off. The choice was fortunately taken out of his hands when Steve put un his best ‘Captain Amerika disapproves’ face and marched into the direction of the new arrivals.

This left the engineer free to talk to Hulk, who let himself be somewhat calmed down instead of running away or attacking. Although the big green guy was staying put, he was still clearly not happy with the interruption or the company.

Meanwhile, the ‘conversation’ seemed to go absolutely nowhere. John, still safely in the doorway of the warehouse, could see more and more of the Avengers become involved. The blond doctor could not actually see the man the Avengers were talking too, but based on Bruce’s stories he guessed it was one Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross.

It was clear that the tension between the Avengers and the soldiers was not resolving if anything it was becoming worse. Then the situation became worse when some suicidal idiot (either or both) fired a shot. The sharp crack of the gunshot was immediately followed by the deafening roar of the Hulk.

John could almost literally feel the world slow down as the adrenaline raised through his body when he saw the Hulk start to move.

But before the green goliath could reach the soldiers three pale blue domes bloomed up to cover both the Avengers and the soldiers. Hulk, not expecting the sudden obstacle, slammed into the shield. The green guy shook his head and let both his fist slam down on the wall. It did nothing, the Hulk was effectively locked out.

* * *

 

John looked at the Hulk. The big green man was still sitting on the couch. It could just be John imagination but the Hulk really looked bored.

Well, it was not like his day could get any weirder.

“Are you bored?” not the most subtle way, but John doubted Hulk would mind.

Hulk let out a growl that the blond doctor could feel in his bones. Despite being mildly terrifying the growl had also sounded affirmative.

_In for a penny…_

“Would you like me to tell you a story?”

* * *

 

Before Hulk could decide to rain down unmatched fury on the shield currently blocking him a red and gold figure flew towards him on the inside of the blue dome. A moment later John’s comm came to life and he could hear Tony talk to the green goliath.

“Hey there buddy! I know the army is kind of crashing our party but smashing isn’t going to help us here.”

Hulk roared, clearly not agreeing with the engineer.

“I’m sorry buddy, I really am. I was looking forward to seeing how much the shields could handle but we can’t have everything. And it might take a little bit of time so you might have to wait for a bit.”

Hulk, once again convaid his displeasure by roaring. Although, John did note that the big green guy wasn’t attacking.

“I know you don’t like waiting. You could turn back to Banner…”

More roaring, it sounded suspiciously like _NO_.

“Or not. Anyway, you might want to wait with John? He is there in the warehouse and it is probably more fun than waiting here till the naughty army men can be picked up.”

Hulk turned to look into his direction and John waved to him. It was only after that John realised that was probably not the normal response.

“See? He is a doctor, like Bruce, he fixes people. But he is also related to Birdy and has about as much self-preservation instincts.”

“He!” the two cousins protested.

“Petty please?” Tony continued, “When the army men are gone you can go to town on the shields, I promise. And we have a barbeque after!”

John was just marvelling how much Tony sounded like a child when he noticed that Hulk was apparently convinced. He saw the anger leave the big guys stance and then the goliath bridged the distance to the doorway.

Up close the Hulk was really, really big and John felt smaller than ever looking up at the guy. Hulk was studying John right back and then spoke.

“No jumping.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” John replied, before stepping to the side to let Hulk enter the warehouse.

* * *

 

“Story?” Hulk asked, curious like a child.

“Yes,” the doctor nodded, “I’m sure that at least Thor told you some.”

“No stupid hammer stories.” The green guy demanded. Well, John could probably manage that.

“Alright, no hammer stories. How about a story about my flatmate? He also liked to destroy stuff but would always claim it was for science. A bit like Tony. Anyway….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a good break and happy holidays!  
> I'm a bit later than normal with posting, but I'm here!  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed reading it!!
> 
> Edit: I had not quite expected AO3 to delete all the comments on the preview from my inbox... (or I would have replied beforehand)  
> So, to everyone who commented. Thank you for your comment and kind words!


	13. Unexpected turns: a visitor

John entered the common room of the Avenger tower freshly showered after one of his runs with Steve. The super soldier had beat him to the room and was already cooking breakfast. More surprising was the presence of Tony, who had a cup of coffee clutched in his hands. In comparison to the presence of the normally absent engineer, it was downright normal to see his cousin on the couch and Thor in the kitchen.

“Good morning,” the blond doctor greeted the room at large. He got several good mornings and some vague grumbling in return, “Do you need any help, Steve?”

The blond soldier shook his head while keeping an eye on the eggs, “Thanks but I have it covered. You might want to make some tea though.”

John nodded and started the soothing ritual of making a cuppa before settling next to the engineer.

The relative calm of the morning was soon broken by JARVIS making an announcement.

“Sirs, there is one Sherlock Holmes in the lobby requesting entrance.”

“What is Sherlock doing here?” John asked no one in particular, utterly surprised by the announcement.

The doctor got up and moved toward the elevator only to be called back by Steve.

“John? Could you wait a moment? We kind of wanted to talk to you about Sherlock.”

John turned towards the super soldier in time to see Tony chuck the last of his coffee. For some reason the doctor had the feeling he was preparing for a fight.

“Yes,” the doctor asked carefully.

“We have been talking about your blog and your relationship with Sherlock and wanted to talk to you about it.”

John took a moment to squash the impulse to point out Sherlock and he never slept together, but he doubted that was what Steve was going for.

Thor took over from the obviously unconformable Captain, “We’ve become concerned with your interactions since Sherlock doesn’t seem to be very healthy for you. Both physically as emotionally.”

“Is this an intervention?” John asked flabbergasted.

The serious faces of the tree Avengers in front of him did suggest so. John was somewhat glad to see Clint trying to merge with the couch from the corner of his eye. That probably meant that the archer hadn’t known about it and based on his mortified expression wasn’t agreeing either.

Taking a fortifying breath, John faced the small group of Avengers again.

“I appreciate the fact that you care about me enough to stage an intervention,” he started, “But you do realise you don’t have a foot to stand on regarding me and dangerous situations? Tony flies around in a metal suit and one of the most repeated stories is how Steve decided to jump out of a plane without a parachute.”

“We’re not talking about your thrill-seeking tendencies,” Tony interjected “You're absolutely right about the hypocrite part. But we _are_ concerned because Sherlock _himself_ doesn’t seem to have your best interests at heart.”

“Your blog shows that he has a tenderise of pulling you into dangerous situations without warning,” Steve jumped in, “He shows very little regards to you and your health, but physical and mental.”

John stared at the heroes a bit, before suddenly remembering having this conversation before. Only then it had been a lot less confrontational.

“Have you guys talked to Bruce?” The blond doctor asked suddenly.

“I brought up the subject,” Tony replied with a shrug, “But he said the two of you talk a lot about the blog while he reads the entries and wasn’t worried. I haven’t brought it up since because we had other things to do.”

“Bruce and I do talk a lot about the things I write,” John started, “Which has the lovely side effect that he _asks me_ things about the cases instead of jumping to conclusions. So we also talk a lot about the things _I don’t write down_.”

“I use the blog to document the cases. I don’t like writing about my personal life because it is just that, _personal_. Which means that if you only use the blog to get an idea of our relationship you don’t get all the information and are thus trying to cast judgement _without knowing the whole story.”_

“Now,” John continued, while still looking at the tree Avengers, “We’re going to let my _friend_ up. Because last I heard he was hunting an international spy ring and I want to know why he is here.”

“But healer John,” Thor started, “How can you accept Sherlock’s behaviour when The Woman held your kingdom ransom?”

“Accept? Yes. Approve? Mostly.” John replied, “Sherlock never has and never will be loyal to the crown, you have the wrong brother for that, but it is a clear example that Sherlock is loyal to _people_. Why he ever thought that vixen was interesting I will probably never understand nor approve of. But it doesn’t really make Sherlock a bad friend quite the opposite actually.”

“What about…” Tony started.

“Whatever it is,” John interrupted, “You can just assume I yelled at him, we talked it out and have been improving on it.”

Then John let out a big breath and muttered to himself, “How is this such a problem already, none of you even made it to Reinbach yet.”

“What happened with Reinbach?” Steve asked. John had clearly underestimated super hearing.

“Not something I’m going into with Sherlock within punching distance,” John replied dryly.

“JARVIS?” Tony immediately asked.

“Reinbach is a stream in South Tyrol, Italy. Mostly known for its waterfalls.”

“In relation to John’s blog, JARVIS. Why are you being annoying?”

“I’m sorry sir. Dr Watson specifically asked me to monitor access to that information because it could spark irrational behaviour.”

“Does that include restricting access?” the engineer asked while shooting a dirty look at John for turning the AI against him.

“Of course not sir,” JARVIS answered readily, “But unless you want me to read the entire thing out for you I don’t think I can help you.”

“You’re going to have to read it in your own time,” John told the disgruntled brunet, “But to get back to your _perceived_ problem. Another thing Bruce and I noticed is that problems and conflicts get amplified when reading all the stories in quick succession. You're capable of reading a lot faster than that the things actually happened to us, especially because you skip all the downtime.”

John looked between the three Avengers, stratified that they had received the message. Then he turned to the couch.

“You make a terrible spy.”

“That’s not fair!” Clint protested, “I’m not even a spy to begin with, but an assassin, and I don’t see you telling Nat off!”

“Do you see Nat in the room?” John shot back, “Besides, Nat is perfectly capable of being aware of the intervention but not saying anything because she wants to watch the train wreck form.”

“Then she will be sorry she missed it,” the archer stated.

“Well, that is her own fault,” John shrugged, “Now if there are no further objections?”

Before anyone present could say anything the elevator gave a cheerful ding.

John turned around towards the sound of footsteps and was confused for a second wondering if some relative of Sherlock had just walked through the door. Then it clicked that he was actually looking at Sherlock, although with shorter hair and without his Belstaff coat.

“Finally,” a familiar baritone stated, “that took forever! Grab your things we need to get moving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops... I'm late, like really late.  
> I wish I had something better to say but I'm also not going to be on time with my update.  
> Normally I have buffer for my buffer, but not anymore. And that combined with some upcoming test I will be on hiatus for a bit.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you did enjoy the new chapter! Comments and Kudos are writer fuel.  
> Also, short thanks to [ randomplotbunny ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomplotbunny/pseuds/randomplotbunny) for the idea of the conflict in this chapter.


	14. Unexpected turns: a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for _so much_ dialogue...

_“Finally,” a familiar baritone stated, “That took forever! Grab your things we need to get moving.”_

Sherlock, as usual, either didn’t notice that everyone was staring at him or he didn’t care. Since he didn’t slow down at all, “We are also going to need the big blond one,” the detective ranted while making his way over to John.

“Thor?” John asked confused.

“No,” Sherlock barked back, “Not the alien. Why would we need the alien?”

“Well, I don’t know!” John shot back annoyed, “I don’t even know _why_ you’re here! Let alone why you want me or Steve to come along.”

“Because the super soldier has the best chance of subduing the POW,” Sherlock replied like John was asking for the obvious.

Then the lackey genius stated to turn, apparently ready to leave, when he added, “Oh, and we will need to stay off SHIELDS radar.”

John started to dig his metaphorical heels in, ready to real his friend in when they were reminded that they were not actually alone.

“Now wait a second!” Steve protested, voice full of righteousness.

Sherlock turned and John could practically see the sarcastic comment form. Before the genius could earn himself a punch to the face John grabbed a hold of his coat.

“Sherlock,” the blond doctor stressed, “Could you explain what is going on? Preferably before you get accused of treason.”

Sherlock opened his mouth but John cut him off again, “I _really_ don’t care about the definition of treason. _Explanation_ Sherlock.”

Sherlock sighed and John knew he had won.

“Fine,” the genius huffed, “As you know, I have been working on dismantling Moriarty’s web.”

“Yes, Clint gave me your letter,” John confirmed before turning to the Avengers to give some clarification, “Large international crime network.”

“While doing this I regularly run into information regarding other organisations that were doing business with Moriarty,” Sherlock continued explaining, “Normally I just sent the information to the relevant local authorities or occasionally to Mycroft.”

“At some point, I ran into some references for another international group. They were distinct in their secrecy and their slightly above average organisation. When I finally identified their name, Hydra became a lot easier to track.”

One of the Avengers made an odd noise, but John didn’t have the time to identify who made it.

“So I hacked SHIELD to gather more information and to see if they were aware of the situation. I was slightly surprised to instead find evidence that Hydra had also infiltrated SHIELD, although it makes sense. Then I gathered my evidence and sent it to Mycroft, now it’s his problem.”

“Meanwhile, I went back to my spider web problem. I’m now almost done, but I need some intel Hydra has in one of their better-secured bases. So I began gathering intel before infiltrating. Don’t give me that look, John. What did you expect me to do? Run in blind?”

Apparently, Sherlock found the answer to his question on John’s face, because the genius huffed and continued, “Intel gathering went excellent but I did find a little snag. The base I need to infiltrate is currently also being used to house one of Hydra’s best assassins, referred to as the asset. Some digging gives two contradictory sides. One hand you have the Winter Soldier, as the asset is known by most intelligence agencies, a highly trained and efficient assassin who is regarded as an untraceable ghost. On the other hand, we have the asset who is talked about as some sort of handy tool or fancy gun.”

“Especially the dehumanising way Hydra talked about him made me suspicious and I found some older files on the asset. These files show that the asset is actually a POW. The files are also woefully redacted but there is still enough information to gather that he was captured, tortured and experimented on. There are also a lot of files comparing his abilities to Captain America, so I need someone to potentially knock the POW out if when needed for his extraction. Hence why I need the big blond one.”

Sherlock spoke the last words while vaguely gesturing over at the Avengers.

“Wow,” was the only weak reply John could muster. The sheer amount of information Sherlock could gather, retain and present, without any aid, left John just as amazed as the first time.

“Wait,” a slightly panicked voice spoke from the couch. John turned to look at his cousin and was slightly surprised to see how pale the archer looked.

“SHIELD is Hydra?” And now John understood the panic on his cousin's face.

“Not completely,” Sherlock answered, “But largely, yes.”

“And you did nothing with this information?” Tony asked unbelievingly.

“I informed Mycroft. And he is probably currently burning it all out of the British government as we speak. I’m sure he will tell Fury eventually.”

“So Fury isn’t Hydra?” Clint asked, somewhere between relieved and confused.

“No, he isn’t. When I found Hydra in SHIELD’s ranks I checked the higher members to assess the danger and people like Fury and Hill came back clean.”

“Then why didn’t you inform _them_?” Steve interjected, “I don’t care you gave this information to Microsoft! This needs to be dealt with as soon as possible!”

“Well that would just have been stupid,” Sherlock said, then he turned to John again, “Can we go now?”

“No one is going anywhere!” Steve bellowed, making his way over to the detective.

John quickly jumped in between the two men, “Steve, yelling at Sherlock won’t accomplish anything. Sherlock, do you already have a plan and is it time sensitive?”

“I will have a plan before we arrive.”

“I know you can,” John sussed, “But this is probably the best place for you to make one.”

“I assume you have the information somewhere?” Tony asked, “Not just in your head I mean.”

“Of course” Sherlock replied, “I’m not an idiot.”

“JARVIS, light it up and call the others up here!”

At his creator's command, JARVIS brought up several holograms.

Sherlock simply raised an eyebrow, “Impressive.”

“Of course, I’m Tony Stark” Tony quipped back, somewhat relaxing now that he was back on familiar ground. Sherlock just gave him a black look.

“What do you know about Tony, Sherlock?” John asked his friend, dreading the answer.

“I did some superficial research on the Avengers,” Sherlock replied, not understanding why John asked, “Tony Stark is the pilot of the Iron Man suit.”

Tony was clearly completely thrown and started to sputter objections, meanwhile, John huffed out an unbelieving breath.

“Sherlock, your literally a walking weapon catalogue. You have heard of Stark weapons.”

“Of course I have heard about them! But I stopped paying attention when they shifted to sustainable energy, that isn’t half as relevant for the work. Why?”

John really hoped his friend wasn’t being this stupid, “Tony _Stark,_ ” he stressed.

“So? It is not like Winchesters are currently being made by someone named Winchester. How would that _ever_ be relevant?”

Meanwhile, the two remaining Avengers had arrived and Natasha immediately cut through the bullshit.

“We have some data to look at?”

For all that she framed it like a question, the command was clear. Meanwhile, Sherlock greeted the two new arrivals.

“Miss Romanoff, a pleasure to see you again. And Doctor Banner, it’s an honour to meet you.”

“Wait,” Tony interjected, “You _have_ heard of Bruce?”

“Of course, Dr Banners work on gamma radiation is very interesting to read.”

“The files, people,” Natasha said, “Before we get off topic again.”

Tony grumbled a bit more but did pull up Sherlock’s files on the holographic display.

“Show us what you got.”

Sherlock reached out to the floating images of his files and swiped left and right for a moment to get a feel for the system. Then the detective then pulled the first file from the collection and started to explain the necessary files.

“I first ran into mentioned of Hydra while in Georgia due to them buying weapons from Moriarty’s web. After some more instances, I started digging and found Hydra within SHIELD. Some minor and major hacking showed where and how this infection was spread. After I send everything to Mycroft, it was his problem. I thought that would be that, but it turns out that Hydra has some information on Moriarty’s smuggling routes.”

“Was Moriarty part of Hydra?” John inquired.

“No,” Sherlock answered, “They did conduct business together but Moriarty wasn’t a part of Hydra. I imagen he found them rather boring.”

“Then I needed to find where the information was kept and found this specific base where, as I mentioned before, the POW is being kept. Files regarding the POW paint a pretty gruesome picture about torture and some very aggressive mind control including a sequence of words basically turning the man in an obedient robot.”

“Where do you need Steve for?”

Sherlock didn’t bother to turn to answer the question, instead, he pulled up more files, “There are several files comparing the ability of the asset with the abilities of Captain America. Additionally, there are some really old once mentioning the asset breaking conditioning in relation to Captain America although it is very vague.”

“You sound pretty invested,” Tony commented, “Why do you care?”

Sherlock looked utterly unimpressed by the implication Tony was going for, “I don’t particularly like the idea of someone whit his abilities being used as a tool for a moronic organisation like Hydra.”

John hid a small smile, _‘It is not the end of the world to let people know you care, Sherlock’_.

“So,” the detective continued, “While I’m there anyway I was planning on freeing the man.”

Then Sherlock pulled up a picture of a man in his usual flashy style. Sherlock really could be a bit of a peacock sometimes.

_*CRACK*_

Everybody turned to look at the kitchen at the loud sound. Looking flabbergasted at a very white Steve.

“But that is _Bucky!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be clear, I think that Sherlock probably would know who Tony is. But I really wanted to make the joke where Sherlock does know Bruce.  
> Anyway, a bit late but I hope you guys like it!


	15. Unexpected turns: in the air

_Somewhere in the airspace of *redacted*_

Sometimes John wondered how the hell he got sucked into this kind of situations. Then he remembered that his best friend was a detective who solved crimes, the more complicated the better and that his cousin was a world-class marksman, working with a bow of all things, and who was part of the Avengers.

Both those men were currently with him in this relatively small plane, flying towards something that was supposed to be a covert extraction. In John’s humble opinion it was more likely to end in a shootout. Especially, since he was very sure that no one on this plane was capable of subtlety.

Yes, he was aware that was with himself included, he might just be the only one self-aware to admit it. Sherlock and Steve would never, that was for sure.

John tipped his head back and thought back to how he ended up in this particular situation.

* * *

 

After Steve’s outcry, the Avengers had, as was expectable, kind of freaked out. Natasha and Tony had almost literally jumped on Sherlock’s documents as everyone else was busy talking over one another.

John, on the other hand, had once again grabbed a hold of Sherlock’s coat, pulling the genius back before he mixed himself into something he, based on his expression, didn’t completely understand.

Sherlock, fortunately, let himself be pulled back instead of mixing himself into the discussion. But then he turned to John with questions in his eyes. John signed and started to try and explain the situation to his friend.

“How much did you learn about Captain America during your research?”

Sherlock frowned as he recalled the information, “Captain America is basically an enhanced human who functions as the strategical head and field leader of the Avengers.”

“Yes,” John replied, “The slightly longer story is that Steve became Captain America during WWII thanks to Erskine’s work.”

“I have read about Erskine.”

“During the war,” John continued, “Steve mainly fought Hydra and nearing the end of the war he crashed a plane into the north pole. He was frozen and asleep till a little bit before the battle of New York.”

Sherlock’s nose scrunched up at the mention of alien, but he didn’t interrupt.

“While fighting in WWII, Steve had a team named the Howling Commandos. One of the members was his childhood friend, James Buchanan Barnes or Bucky.” John said while pointing at the still floating picture.

“That is why everyone is suddenly so invested, especially Steve. As far as everyone knew, Bucky fell off a train to his death in the mountains.”

John let out a shuddering breath and folded in on himself. “Finding out your best friend is still alive when you thought him dead can be quite the shock.”

Sherlock’s demeanour changed from confident to pained and guilty. John saw how he shifted his weight a bit and appeared to gear up to say something.

“John…”

Sherlock, unfortunately, didn’t get any father as everyone attention was diverted to Steve yelling, mostly from surprise, as he sailed through the air. The super soldier smacked into the ground without any real damage.

Thor, the one who had decided to send the man flying, looked at Steve without any malice. “Have you got your wits back, Friend Steve?” the god asked, “Or would you like to clear your mind in a real sparring match?”

“What the fuck?” John asked the group at large, wondering what had happened in the short time he hadn’t paid attention.

“Friend Steven became a bit overly focused on one aspect of our problem,” Thor explained, “I merely shocked him out of it. Loki used to stab me when I did it.”

“Overly focused?” Steve asked while accepting Thor’s hand to pull him back up.

“Aye, from what I gather we currently have the element of surprise over our enemy Hydra. Meaning we will have to plan our attack carefully as to not give away our knowledge.”

“Of course.”

“Therefore, we can’t attack the base were your shield-brother is held.”

“Like hell!” Steve protested.

Thor held up a hand to silence his friend once more.

“But were you shield-brother is held is not the main danger from Hydra. That is their infestation of SHIELD and other such places. Thus we need our advantage of surprise to remove them from these places.”

“Think of it this way,” Natasha jumped, “If we firs flush out Hydra we can still collect Barnes. But if we first collect Barnes Hydra agents will go deep cover. That would make flushing them out so much harder.”

“We’re going to be in it for the long haul,” Tony commented, “We will need to coordinate with Fury and other organisations to figure out who is clean and who isn’t. When we have them out of positions of power we can go blow up Hydra bases to our heart's content.”

“I don’t have time for that.” Sherlock cut in, “If I wait that long the information I need will be outdated.”

The Avengers began making noises of protested when John spoke up, “That might actually be the solution.”

“How so?” Bruce asked.

“We don’t want Hydra to know that the Avengers, and by extension SHIELD, are aware of their continued existence,” John explained, “Meanwhile, Sherlock has been working on Moriarty’s web for a while and Hydra probably knows someone is destroying his web. So if information about Moriarty’s web goes missing it will probably, correctly, be attributed to Sherlock.”

“Would it be very out of character for you to ‘steal’ the Winter Soldier, Sherlock?”

“Not at all,” Sherlock replied, “I also interrupted some human smuggling in Rotterdam.”

“That way we can get Barnes out while the others already start with flushing Hydra out,” John concluded.

“We will still need to keep him somewhere,” Tony replied, “If we suddenly have to Super soldiers running around Hydra is going to catch up eventually.”

“Depending on well, how human he is I might have an idea,” John said thoughtful, “Otherwise an isolated place might be best.”

* * *

 

After that the conversation had turned a lot more technical, John mused.

Steve had been absolutely adamant about being on the team that was rescuing Bucky. Which wasn’t really a problem since he couldn’t do a lot on the Hydra front.

The only ones who could really do something about that we’re Natasha and Tony, with some backup from Bruce. John had also talked Sherlock into contacting his brother. Mycroft probably had a start of a plan on how to handle SHIELD and blindsiding the man about something as important as this sounded like a monumentally stupid idea.

Then they had to construct a covert team from the remaining Avengers.

Steve was on it. Both because he would not be told he could not be on it and for the reasons Sherlock had needed him in the first place. The argument was brought up that Captain America was very, very recognisable as an Avenger.

This had eventually led to the obvious solution of leaving Captain America home. Steve had had no real problem with switching the uniform for something more generic. It was harder to convince him to leave his shield home, but as Tony put it “That shield is literally a big shiny sign saying ‘The Avengers are here’”. So instead he had a gun from Clint’s extensive collection.

Sherlock was an obvious addition. It was, to begin with, mostly his mission because he needed the intel from the base. Furthermore, his knowledge of the base would be invaluable when the group was infiltrating.

John was mostly on the team because Sherlock almost literally had grabbed a hold of him and not let go. Still, he was not actually a bad choice. He wasn’t recognisable as an Avengers simply because he wasn’t one while still having the skills needed for operations like this. Additionally, as Bruce had pointed out, they might need a medic and John calming presence and Sherlock wrangling abilities could be invaluable.

The last member of their little team was Clint. The archer had also shredded his most recognisable feature, with only a little more grace than Steve, as his use of bow and arrows would be pretty damming. Still, he was still a master marksman and actually trained for this kind of operations and a pilot on top of that.

That had initially left Thor as the odd one out. He didn’t have the skills to help with the Hydra situation and he was way to recognisable (and loud) to help rescue Barnes. Then Bruce had suggested turning this weakness into a strength. Their plan depended on Hydra thinking that all business as usual with the Avengers. Thor appearing in public, as he was known to do, would reinforce the notion that all was fine.

Thor had been absolutely delighted with the idea of being part of a deception. It gave John the idea that Loki might have rubbed off on brother a bit more than Thor let on.

“ETA 10 minutes!” Clint called from the cockpit, pulling John from his musing. Meanwhile, Sherlock and Steve looked up from the map they had been going over.

It was showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, my update schedule is officially shot to hell.  
> I will try to post the other chapters in a somewhat timely manner but absolutely no promises.  
> (This plot idea might have gotten slightly bigger than intended (and less organised))
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like the chapter!


	16. Unexpected turns: Hydra base

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that!! I remember to actually post something!  
> I wasn't kidding when I said that my posting schedule had officially gone out of the window...  
> But anyway, I have a chapter! So I hope it is to your liking!

Mike was not having a great day.  Granted, it was pretty rare to have really great days. Mostly he was way too busy with his work at the base. Still, today was shaping up to be a shitty one. Not extremely shitty, just regular shitty. Shitty as in, the brass has one of their random bouts of paranoia again and everything has to be triple checked kind of shitty.

Mike lamented the death of his evening, ‘ _Extra checks means less free time, just because the top is seeing ghosts again. And it is not like they have to do any extra work.’_

 _‘Absolute bogus to be worried,’_ he thought while entering the door code, _‘We’re in the middle of fucktard nowhere and with more security then they knew what to do with. No one knows we’re here, no one is getting in.’_

All Mike’s grumbling did nothing about the fact that he still had to check the fridge, his absolute least favourite place in the entire building.

 _‘It’s beyond stupid that this place needs to be checked in the first place. No one but the patrols ever goes there and it is the most out of the way place in the whole gigantic base. And there is nothing to steal._ ’

Mike suppressed a shudder as the cold hit settled around him and the whisks of condensation flowed around his boots. He wasn’t the only one that disliked the fridge. Pretty much everyone on his unit did. As Charles put it, the place gave him the hibidibries.

 _‘Well, maybe not everyone’_ Mike thought darkly, glaring at his partner for the day.

Fredrick managed to divide his time equally between being full of righteous smugness and kissing up at the superiors. Both made him an annoying piece of work, no one really liked.

The duo made their customary round through the room. _Nothing, as flipping always._

“Come on, this room is clear,” Mike called to his annoying partner who was standing in front of the fridge, “I don’t want to waste any time here if we don’t need to.”

“Actually a really outdated piece, don’t you think?” Fredrick commented.

Another one of the annoying shit’s habits, innate small talk, “Best in the freaking business according to the higher-ups.”

“Bit hard to believe isn’t it?” Frederick asked like he was confiding in Mike, “That it is still the best? You would think that we could improve. Or at least replace the current one.”

Then from the one to the other moment, Fredrick was sailing through the air. Mike didn’t have time to react while the figure that had suddenly appeared rushed toward him, faster than a human could.

The last he saw were two furious blue eyes.

* * *

 

“What about stay still till they leave didn’t you understand Rogers?!” Sherlock yelled while gesturing at the two guards, “They were just about to go!”

“They were talking about Bucky like he was some sort of object!” Steve yelled back.

“That is how Hydra thinks about him!”

“As much fun it is to watch the two of you argue,” Clint cut in, “Maybe we should get a move on. Those two won’t be missed just yet, right?”

“We will have less time than I would have liked but it is still doable,” Sherlock allowed, “Let me get him out.”

While Sherlock moved to the control panel Clint kept an eye on the entrance. John and Steve waited in front of the glass separating them from James Buchanan Barnes. The man appeared to be sleeping through the slightly fogged glass.

A loud hiss filled the room as Sherlock hit the release. The door of the cryo-chamber popped open a little bit and Steve immediately pulled the door all the way open.

“Don’t pull him out just yet!” Sherlock warned.

Steve visibly restrained himself from reaching for his friend. John had slightly less inhibitions and moved forward to check the soldier's pulse.

Before John could find a decent pulse the soldier started to move away from his fingers.

“He’s waking up fast,” John commented, slightly concerned.

“The system is designed for speed, not comfort,”

John didn’t have very long to feel horrified about the implications as the soldier moved again and almost tumbled out of the cryo-chamber.

“Easy soldier,” John said as he stabilised the other man with a hand on his chest.

The man blinked a couple of times and then tried to move again, movements slow and a tad sporadic. Steve decided to break his stance so he and John helped the soldier out of the cryo-chamber.

A moment later the man stood, although maybe a bit unsteady, outside of the thing.

Steve moved carefully, similar to approaching a scared animal, in front of his friend.

“He Bucky,” Steve started, “Do you remember me?”

The soldier took the blond in with a look of confusion, suspicion and a hint of fear.

“What is a ‘Bucky’?”

“Your Bucky,” Steve replied, desperation leaking into his voice, “And I’m Steve. Remember?”

“I don’t know Bucky,” the soldier stated while pulling back, “What is my mission?”

“There is no mission, Bucky,” Steve told him gently.

This was not the answer the soldier was looking for and he became visibly more agitated. John just started to worry that it would escalate to a fight when Sherlock jabbed the soldier in the neck.

The soldiers right-hand shoots up to check the injection site but it is already too late. He turns around but Sherlock has already backed up, out of reach.

Both John and Steve jumped forward when the soldier stumbled and caught him before he could hit the ground, unconscious.

Steve glared up at Sherlock, “What did you do!?”

“Gave him the sedative,” Sherlock all but shot back, “The one we brought with us for exactly this reason.”

“That wasn’t necessary. I could have calmed him down.”

“He was gearing up to either flee or fight and we can’t afford either.”

“No fighting!” John cut in, “It is not like we can wake him up again.”

Steve grumbled a bit but he didn’t start arguing again. Instead, he lifted his friend in a fireman carry ready to move.

“John is right,” Sherlock started, “We don’t have time to argue anyway. We should go back to the plane.”

“I thought we took such care on the way in to make sure we wouldn't really have a time constraint?”

Sherlock levelled an impressive glare at the super soldier, “That’s right. But then someone knocked out two guards who will be missed eventually.”

John could see Steve gearing up to get into another argument but luckily Clint cut in before anyone could go off again.

“If we’re on a schedule I suppose we should start moving. How long before these two will be missed?”

“We have some time,” Sherlock allowed. Then the groups got moving again. This time to get out of the building.

* * *

 

Sherlock and Clint led the group through the winding hallways while John brought up the rear. This was very similar to the way in, although now Steve was safely in the middle of the group.

Steve had initially tried to take the lead during the infiltration and Steve was an excellent leader, provided he had all the information. This is where he and Sherlock budded heads. Sherlock had all the information he could get his hands on from the base, but he was terrible about sharing and making judgements about who should know what. This is why John just always brought his gun because Sherlock wouldn't tell him he needed it right until there was something to shoot at.

So, Sherlock knew the blueprints, the guard schedules, the guard schedule for when the base was in high alert, where the cameras were and which cameras would not be as closely watched as others. Steve could make the same, or a similar, plan with this information but teaching him would take too long and wasn’t needed since Sherlock already knew.

It was a similar problem Steve and Tony regularly had. Steve could make plans based on what he knew but the only one who really knew what the Iron Man suit could and could not do was Tony. That coupled with the fact that Tony constantly tweaked and changed all kinds of things about the suit meant that Steve was simply unaware that something was possible and Tony then decided to make the call himself. It would, however, lead to less screaming matches if Tony also didn’t make a lot of calls that put himself in serious danger.

Not that any of these arguments mattered now, because Steve couldn’t lead _and_ carry Bucky.

The way out was a lot less tense and a lot faster than the way in. The way in had consisted of a very winding path set by Sherlock that avoided patrols and passed hacked camera’s. They had also spent quite some time hidden in storage lockers to let patrols pass and one especially long stretch when Sherlock had gone off to collect his intel before they went to the Winter Soldier. It had taken quite some arguing for Sherlock to take Clint with him on this excursion which had left John with an agitated Steve.

Now they didn’t really have the time to take all these precautions. The group had to move faster due to the time constraint and they were all eager to get out.

* * *

 

 

Luck had apparently been on their side. Despite not being as careful on the way out as they had been on the way in there hadn’t been any problems apart from one other lonely patrol that was now stuffed into a storage room.

The setting sun was a welcome sign but also an indication of how long they had been inside the base. Now the group still needed to get back to the plane. The plan was surprisingly basic, just get there as soon as possible.

As soon as Sherlock gave the sign that the cameras were down the group took off running.

While running John tried to keep a bit of an eye on Steve. Steve might have been the most durable out of the 4 men currently running through the woods he was also the one who was carrying a full grown man with a metal arm.

Sherlock, meanwhile, was running in the front of the group, probably due to his stupidly long legs. But, as they were nearing the plane Sherlock started winding down. He probably hadn’t quite paced himself right which could be because he wasn’t really familiar with running long distances in terrain like this.

Sherlock got first passed by Clint, who had begun something of an end sprint to start preparing for takeoff, and then Steve. When John pulled level with his friend he slowed down a bit. Sherlock gave him a look but didn’t comment as the two ran the last bit together till they reached the plane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter (even though it is really really late)  
> My writing schedule is still shot/non-existent, but I do know where I want to go with the story. So I just have to _write_.  
>  Anyway, if you so please, leave a comment or kudos. I will see you when I see you.


	17. Unexpected turns: Temporary goodbyes and new beginnings

Cruising altitude was deceptively peaceful John thought. Now that their little group was safely up in the air everybody had found a place to sit and rest, dangers and stress of the infiltration finally over. Clint had taken up residence in the cockpit, guiding the plane to the next destination. Steve, meanwhile, had fallen asleep. A combination of a couple of bad nights sleep, worrying over Bucky, the long and tense infiltration and the run back with the added weight finally catching up with the super soldier now that he had a safe place to seep.

Sherlock had isolated himself a bit from the group. He was busy with preparations for the last leg of his mission to destroy Moriarty’s web. The new intel he had collected needed to end up in exactly the right places. To help the detective along they would be dropping him off near his destination, which was also the next stop they would be making.

That left John, rummaging through a very well filled first aid kit, sitting next to the sleeping winter soldier.

The man was currently still asleep, but that would not be the case much longer because the tranquillisers should be wearing off any moment now. With keen doctor eyes, trained by years of foolhardy soldiers and then Sherlock, John spotted the first signs of the man waking up.

John tried to not pay to much attention to the waking man, instead he reorganised the disinfectants for the fourth time in an effort to appear non-threatening and make some noise as to not surprise the other man.

Two eyes snapped open suddenly and immediately scanned around to asses his surroundings. John carried on not paying the soldier any direct attention, instead, he focused on giving the plasters a new home in the big first aid kit.

When the soldier seemed done with scanning the room and completing his tread assessment John turned towards the man and offered him a sealed water bottle.

“Would you like something to drink?”

The soldier did not verbally respond. Instead, he eyed the bottle with a fair bit of surprise and suspicion.

“If you don’t want it you can say so,” John carried on when no answer was forthcoming, “I also have some smoothies” (liberated from Tony’s stash) “or, if you feel up to it, a granola bar.”

The soldier looked on in silence for a bit longer and then reached out to accept the water bottle. As soon as the water bottle left his hand John went back to pretending that the first aid kit in front of him needed most of his attention and he merrily found a new home for the gauche as he heard the other open the bottle.

John let the soldier asses his environment in peace while the man took little cautioned sips of the water. Once the soldier closed the bottle again and looked questioning at John the doctor focused on him again.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked kindly.

“What is my mission,”

“There is no mission for you,” John replied.

“There is always a mission,”

“Well, yes,” John allowed, “we are dropping Sherlock off in a bit so he can compleat his mission, but you don’t have to do anything for that.”

The response John got was a suspicious glare from the soldier, “You took me from the base of operations.”

“Yes,” John confirmed, “you could say we stole you, but that mission is completed and successful. Unless you feel a desire to go back?”

John looked at the soldier, the soldier glared back like John just asked him a trick question he didn’t want to answer.

“What is my mission.”

“You don’t have a mission,” John repeated patiently, then he cocked his head and asked a question in return.

“Do you want a mission because you want to feel useful or because you feel that you have to do a mission?”

“What is the difference?”

“Well,” John started, “if you feel you _have_ to do a mission it could be because you think you need to be useful to be allowed to be here. While if you want a mission it is more similar to when I got back from the war. _I_ felt useless and wanted to do something useful again to make _me_ feel better.”

The confused and suspicious glare on the soldiers face clearly indicated that it was not a good explanation.

“Sorry, that wasn’t really helpful,” John allowed, “Simpler said, do you want a mission to make _you_ feel better or to make _us_ happy?”

John held up a hand to prevent the soldier from speaking.

“I have been telling you there is no mission for you because you don’t _have_ to complete a mission to make _us_ happy,” John told the soldier sternly.

“We are happy just to have you around, especially him,” John said while pointing at the still sleeping Steve.

The soldier looks over at Steve and frowns, “He knew me.”

“Yes. He was your friend before Hydra. Do you remember?”

“Not really,” the soldier replied with a mix of wonder and confusion in his voice.

“That is not a problem,” John assured him, “He still wants to be your friend again.”

This had the soldier snap his gaze back to the doctor, mild panic in his eyes. “But I’m not that. I’m not Bucky.”

“And you think he doesn’t know that?” John asked with a stern voice, “He knows you’re missing a large part of your memories and he understands that the last 70 years changed you. _But_ he still wants to try and be friends with you again, because he thinks he will also like the _you_ you are now.”

There was a long moment of silence while the soldier seemed to try to process what John had told him.

Then John spoke up again, “I actually quite agree with him.”

“Wait, what?!”

“I would like to be your friend,” John repeated.

“But I’m a murderer!” the soldier objected with clear disgust at himself.

“Then you're in good company.” John replied with a sharp smile, before continuing with a much kinder voice, “You’re aware of yourself and know that what Hydra did was bad. This tells me that you are already starting to recover, which is pretty incredible actually, and means that we just can carry on with plan A.”

The suspicion was back in the soldier's eyes, “What is plan B?”

“A cabin in the middle of nowhere, Cannada.”

“To do what?” more confusion than suspicion now.

“To stay hidden from Hydra, with Steve, and recover some more.”

The soldier looked highly doubtful and slightly suspicious, “What is plan A?”

“A flat in London.”

“To do _what_?!”

“To stay hidden from Hydra, with Steve, and recover some more,” John replied evenly.

“Look,” he elaborated, “The difference between the plans depended on how ready you are to be among large groups of people, and since your already doing so well, way better than expected actually, it probably will not cause too many problems. But you need a relatively safe place to relearn how to be your own person and how to just live. Interaction with some relatively normal people will probably help with that but if you weren’t ready for large groups of people Londen would have been a terrible choice.”

“You want to let me loose on Londen?!”

“Why not?” John asked in turn, “Are you feeling particular murderous?”

The soldiers reply communicated a resounding _no._

“Good” John declared.

“Was good?” a sleepy voice asked. Steve then looked around, apparently confused he was on the floor.

“You’re going to stay in London,” John told the still sleepy Captain. Meanwhile, the soldier was trying to make himself as small as possible.

Steve needed a moment to process the information John had just given him but when it clicked his whole face lit up in a smile.

“That is fantastic, Bucky!” Steve beamed, then he took in the hunched form of his friend, “Is something wrong?”

“Not Bucky.”

“You don’t like it when I call you Bucky?” Steve asked confused, “I suppose I could call you James…”

Steve trailed off and then seemed to remember something.

“I’m sorry we drugged you,” he said solemnly.

“What?” the soldier asked, now completely confused.

“Holmes drugged you, back in the Hydra base,” Steve explained, “But that was completely unnecessary so I’m apologising.”

“It was most definitely needed.” Sherlock suddenly chimed in, apparently done with sorting through his mind palace.

Steve snapped his head to the detective, “It wasn’t.”

The soldier turned to John with big confused eyes as Steve and Sherlock descended into a pointless argument.

“Don’t worry. This is completely normal,” John assured the soldier, “But Steve did bring up something important. What do you want us to call you?”

“James?”

“Well then, nice to meet you, James.”

-

The field they landed in to drop Sherlock off was nothing special if a bit muddy. The rest of the flight had been spent alternating between good-natured bickering and Steve trying to explain to James how the Avengers were going to handle the fact that Hydra was still around and causing trouble.

During his explanation, he got regularly distracted about things he found particular or interesting about the modern time. He did, however, stay away from trying to bring up memories from before. The team had discouraged doing this if James didn’t show any recollection of it because it could give the man the idea he was doing something wrong.

Steve was being really good about it, although he had still regularly called his friend Bucky.

But now that they were all here in this muddy field the talking had stopped and everyone used the opportunity to get some fresh air and stretch their legs.

Sherlock was all ready to go and prepared for his journey when John walked up to see his friend off.

“At least I know this is only a temporary goodbye.” John said, before adding more subdued, “Stay safe, alright?”

Sherlock huffed exasperated, but then he softened up a bit, “It is the last leg, John. And I’m absolutely planning on coming home.”

Then he narrowed his eyes, “Actually, I think I should be telling you to be careful.”

John huffed out a laugh, “I’m good, Sherlock.”

Sherlock was still looking at John through narrowed eyes, looking utterly unconvinced, “I worried less about you when I still believed you were safe in Londen.”

John lost a bit of his cheer, “I was not really safer there,” he said with a soft voice.

“I know now that what I believed was wrong, and I do wish it had gone differently.”

The two friends fell silent for a bit after that.

“I’ll see you soon,” Sherlock said at last, before turning around and walking away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Opens trapdoor*  
> *Throws out chapter*  
> *Slams trapdoor closed*  
> *Sound of several locks re-engaging* 
> 
> My writing/posting schedule is not going to get better any time soon...


End file.
